Day 4 - Chile Earthquake 2010 - Video footage of Alto Rio Apartment Building
Bldg ID 3-10.2
Alto Rio Bldg (36⁰ 49′ 41″, 73⁰ 03′ 41″)
This concrete apartment building built in 2009 (currently not shown on Google Earth) has been strewn across all media channels. When we arrived, we were shocked and in awe of the devastating force this earthquake produced. Survivors were giving testimonials of their earthquake and survival experience. Our tour guide was very sad and on ...
Posted by James Liu on March 11, 2010 11:16 PM
Talca, Chile
photos by James Liu
We apparently ended up in a hostel….yes a hostel by the name "Casa Chueca" which in Spanish means "Crooked House". There may have been a little miscommunication from the tour guide ("hotel" I guess sounds close to "hostel"). Apparently, there were not too many places available for stay. The amenities were adequate and the owners/staff were very warm and friendly. We made it through the night in the adobe structures, got up at 7am ...
Posted by James Liu on March 11, 2010 10:07 PM
David Gonzalez and James Liu finally arrived on Tuesday morning. We were anxiously waiting for their arrival to head south to the epicenter. We gave them time for a quick shower and breakfast before we hit the road. Our plan is to go to Talca (about 250km from Santiago) and 100km due west from the epicenter. We had heard there was significant damage in Talca and was also a convenient halfway point to Concepcion. We first head to the Enea ...
Posted by Anuj Bansal on March 10, 2010 10:39 PM
Valparaiso
photos by Roger Parra
Bldg ID 3-8.1
Port Customs Buildings (33⁰ 02' 16", 71⁰ 37' 40")
Two L-Shaped URM buildings with towers at opposite sides of the street. The low rise portion is four stories and towers are 9 stories tall. One building has a seismic joint at the tower portion the other does not and thus suffered damage at the tower junction. Use Seismic Joints! The damage in Valparaiso is very light and limited to URM ...
Posted by Roger Parra on March 9, 2010 9:17 PM
Degenkolb's Reconn team arrives in Chile.
photos by Roger Parra
Building in the Cuidad Empresarial Area (33⁰ 23' 32", 70⁰ 37' 09") (below)
Irregular shaped building with torsional response. Walls on southeast end heavily damaged. Shear and compression failures of the walls. Shoring being put in place. Walls are 8 inches thick with #2 horizontal bars at about 8 inches on center. Horizontal wall bars hook outside of the boundary element with 90⁰ hooks.
Click on thumbnails below ...
Posted by Roger Parra on March 9, 2010 2:22 AM
What can we learn from the Chilean Earthquake?
We are just beginning the process of obtaining detailed information on the impacts of the Chilean Earthquake and we expect to learn many lessons that will be applicable to construction in the United States. We are particularly interested in what similarities we will find with the Pacific Northwest where we have our own version of the Chilean Earthquake waiting to happen on the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). Much like Chile, where the Nazca ...
Posted by Stacy Bartoletti on March 4, 2010 8:37 PM