The Northridge Earthquake

This book provides a global view of the social effects of disaster in developed and developing countries. It focuses on the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in the US and other recent disasters to examine vulnerability and post-disaster recovery strategies. The authors also explore the ways state policy can reduce vulnerability in the future.

This invitation conference, held Dec. 2 and 3, 1994, included earth scientists, engineers, social scientists, agency program managers, and practitioners and others who implement earthquake research. Chapters include: NSF-funded Northridge Earthquake researchers; summary of USGS Northridge supplementary funding; NIST Northridge research; FEMA Northridge research; organizational research programs: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, Calif. Seismic Safety Comm., EERI, NCEER, NHRAIC, Rand Critical Technologies Inst., and SAC Joint Venture; Info. Services: EERC-NISEE, NCEER Info. Services, and OES DFO; and individuals' research projects.

Prepared by the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering of ASCE. This TCLEE Monograph covers the entire range of fire following earthquake (FFE) issues, from historical fires to 20th-century fires in Kobe, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Northridge. FFE has the potential of causing catastrophic losses in the United States, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and other seismically active countries with wood houses. This comprehensive book on FFE and urban conflagrations provides state-of-the-practice insight on unique issues, such as large diameter flex hose applications by fire and water departments. Topics include: History of past fires; Computer modeling of fire spread in the post-earthquake urban environment; Concurrent damage and fire impacts for water, power gas, communication and transportation systems; Examples of reliable water systems built or designed in San Francisco, Vancouver, Berkeley, and Kyoto; Use of large diameter (5 in.) and ultralarge diameter (12 in.) flex hose for fire fighting and water restoration; and Cost-effectiveness of various FFE mitigation strategies, with a detailed benefit-cost model. Water utility engineers, fire fighting professionals, and emergency response planners will benefit from reading this book.

Excerpt from The Northridge Earthquake; Extent of Damage and Federal Response: Hearing Before the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, Second Session A major earthquake, measuring on the Richter scale, struck the heavily populated suburban area of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley at Northridge, California, at am, pst on January 17, 1994. The fault was unknown before the quake. The earthquake had a lateral thrust up on two converging plates. This resulted in a sudden and strong vertical acceleration that caused damage that was considerably more severe than other comparable earthquakes or even the Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California in 1989. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.