things I'd like to add while I think of them--stacked parking structures seem to be unusually vulnerable to pancaking, probably because they don't have the stabilization of walls between the vertical supports. If you are in one when a quake hits, then without panicking exit immediately or at least get to an area with a waffle-style ceiling so if the level above falls, there's a crawl space to be in. You don't want to be between two flat slabs of concrete, so don't hang around wondering if the quake is bad or not.
In LA there used to be a lot of 1950's era apartment complexes built on top of a parking level--in various quakes most of these have pancaked down onto the cars.
Anyway, Japan has serious quakes even more frequently than California, so most structures that *can* fall have already fallen and been replaced with structures that won't.
Notably the old temples and such? *Very* earthquake tolerant. Modern engineers are still learning things about earthquake-resistant design from them.
In California most areas don't suffer more than broken mayo jars unless the intensity gets over Richter 6.5. Japan is probably the same. Due to aftershocks from the Sendai quake, I imagine residents of Tokyo probably don't blink at anything less than a 6, because they've been having so many aftershocks. (This was my experience after the 7.2 Loma Prieta quake.)
Another indicator of earthquake severity is whether the power goes out. If it does, then the quake is probably significant (though it may be distant and not shake too hard where you are) and that's an indicator to seek shelter from falling objects because the quake may last more than a few seconds.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-07-31 10:30 pm (UTC)things I'd like to add while I think of them--stacked parking structures seem to be unusually vulnerable to pancaking, probably because they don't have the stabilization of walls between the vertical supports. If you are in one when a quake hits, then without panicking exit immediately or at least get to an area with a waffle-style ceiling so if the level above falls, there's a crawl space to be in. You don't want to be between two flat slabs of concrete, so don't hang around wondering if the quake is bad or not.
In LA there used to be a lot of 1950's era apartment complexes built on top of a parking level--in various quakes most of these have pancaked down onto the cars.
Anyway, Japan has serious quakes even more frequently than California, so most structures that *can* fall have already fallen and been replaced with structures that won't.
Notably the old temples and such? *Very* earthquake tolerant. Modern engineers are still learning things about earthquake-resistant design from them.
In California most areas don't suffer more than broken mayo jars unless the intensity gets over Richter 6.5. Japan is probably the same. Due to aftershocks from the Sendai quake, I imagine residents of Tokyo probably don't blink at anything less than a 6, because they've been having so many aftershocks. (This was my experience after the 7.2 Loma Prieta quake.)
Another indicator of earthquake severity is whether the power goes out. If it does, then the quake is probably significant (though it may be distant and not shake too hard where you are) and that's an indicator to seek shelter from falling objects because the quake may last more than a few seconds.