×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Ecuador earthquake structural musings
2

Ecuador earthquake structural musings

Ecuador earthquake structural musings

(OP)
I'm curious if anyone else knows - do areas such as Ecuaador even have a building code?

Much of the destruction looks to be concrete structures (which I'm assuming was due to a reinforcement issue, either lack thereof or improper connections)

Here's a link of some of the damage so far

RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings

They most likely have building codes. The issue always is about when the particular buildings were constructed, who constructed them, what codes were in effect when they were constructed, and how "mature" are their codes with respect to proper seismic design, detailing and construction. Just like everywhere else, there's probably a wide range of seismic capacity in buildings.

Check out Eng-Tips Forum's Policies here:
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings

2
Of course not. Only the good old USA has the excellency to be able to produce a building code. The rest of the world if full of stone age dimwits that only pass themselves as engineers.

Link for the Ecuador building code (in spanish):
http://www.normaconstruccion.ec/

RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings

Another issue is the extent to which the codes are enforced.

But note that many places in the US don't have a building code. Here in Texas, for example, there is a state-wide building code, but it only applies to commercial buildings. Otherwise, most of the building codes are imposed by city governments, and if you're not in the city limits, there's no code requirement and you can build what you want to.

Another issue is that the modern building codes are all based on the idea that we'll design so that the probability of the loads exceeding X level are reasonably low. But "reasonably low" is not zero, so you can build a brand-new structure to the latest code and have it destroyed the following day because that hurricane was stronger than it was supposed to be or whatever. Get another New Madrid earthquake in full force, and you'll have people in Ecuador asking "do they even have building codes up there?"

RE: Ecuador earthquake structural musings

I found a website that compares ground motion of different magnitude earthquakes. If it is accurate, the Ecuador quake was 22 times higher than Loma Prieta. How do you think San Francisco would have held up to that?



Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources