Earthquakes and your Home

Earthquakes, we hear about them each year, causing terrible distress all over the world. From buildings to small houses, earthquakes can leave incredible damage wherever they hit. Why does this happen? What makes a building or structure fail in earthquakes? Also, what strategies are out there to make a building earthquake resistant? 


What is an earthquake? Well, to understand what earthquake is it is first important to know how the earth is composed. Deep in the inside, the earth has a soft center, made out of molten rock and iron. On top of that there is a crusty layer that is made out of several lumps that are either separated by faults or pressed together into mountains. 



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These plates, however, are not static. Through a variety of forces they are sliding past each other, bumping into each other, pressing against each other, and all of these movements can cause earthquakes. As these plates jams, there comes a breaking point. After this, a sudden movement may be felt, causing a tremendous amount of energy to be released. 

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Now what makes a building or home fail? All buildings are designed to carry their own weight. They are also designed to carry a bit of snow and other vertical loads. However, many buildings are not designed to resist side to side loads. When the engineers have not taken into consideration side to side loads, there is high risk that when an earthquake comes about, the series of waves can make the building wave, each time with more energy, until there is structural failure.

One common factor that contributes to a building's failure during earthquakes has to do with adding more weight to a building that has not been strengthen to take on that additional weight. It is also then important to reinforce a building's structure to make sure that it will resist the movements from an earthquake.

So how can a building be made made more resistant to earthquakes? The first thing to make a building resistant to earthquakes is to work on the foundations. These need to be built with earthquakes in mind. In other words, they have to be build so that they can be resistant to sideways loads. Walls have also to be made to be tied to the framing and reinforced to take load in their weakest direction.

Without a doubt, earthquakes can leave immeasurable damage. The answer then rests on thinking ahead and designing buildings with strong foundations that are earthquake proof.