Earthquake Engineering Research - HKU Libraries - The University ...

197
PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES
Earthquakes, as a kind of natural catastrophe, are of low frequency but high consequence It is difficult to
accumulate experiences This way, conventional aseisrmc design takes engineering codes as a main
target, which means a design is created entirely on criteria that can meet the codes Present code design
procedures, however, cannot give convincing answers to questions such as what might be the
prospective damage sustained by a structure during an upcoming earthquake or the costs and benefits of
earthquake protection
Though proper handling of seismic behavior of a building or a structure is essential, it is still quite a local
issue on concerning nsk management for metropolis During the 1995 Kobe earthquake the traffic
service system in the emergency situation experienced substantial difficulties as considerable damage
happened in elevated bridges (Fig 1 2) Collapsed buildings can also block roads Fires during the
earthquake may rum several areas within a city for lack of emergent rescue (Fig 3)
Fig. 3 Areas damaged by fires during the Kobe earthquake
All the above-mentioned issues will cause losses of lives directly or indirectly Communication with the
public becomes quite important for saving lives and keeping order of the society Dunng an earthquake
city infrastructures such as power supply, electronic communication etc might be out of their functions
To find efficient ways for communication should be a problem
On conducting seismic nsk management and disaster mitigation for metropolis as problems concerned
above, current solutions are insufficient in following aspects
1) For structure seismic analysis, current solutions are weak in recreating and presenting real
phenomena, such as damage and collapses of structures
2) Research achievements and data, such as programs developed and data of structures created or
obtained from design, construction and maintenance, mainly exist as isolated islands They are
lack of integration and interaction Moreover, it is difficult to reuse the resources
3) There is lack of concern in providing and distributing information, which is useful to and can be
easily accessed by estate owners, administrators and the public Furthermore, less mechanism is
established to listen and gather messages from the public