Cathy Huang | Geology Reports

USGS2016

Learning from the recent Taiwan Meinong Earthquake

This paper highlights the lessons learned following a reconnaissance trip to Tainan, Taiwan two weeks after the February 2016 earthquake. The reconnaissance was conducted by Gilsanz, Murray Steficek engineers (GMS) and an earthquake engineer from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), the Applied Technical Council (ATC) and the National Center for Research in Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) of Taiwan. Observations were made of damages, success of base-isolated high-rise and retrofitted school buildings, site effects and ground failures as well as the response of both city agencies and building owners to the earthquake. The motivation for engineers and the public for such a mission is to learn from the observations to be better prepared for the next earthquake.

Meinong↗

USGS2016

Evaluation of performance of Taiwan housing stock and schools during the Mw6.4 Kaohsiung/Meinong Earthquake of February 6, 2016

The recent Kaohsiung Meinong Earthquake which occurred on February 6, 2016 affected several categories of building stock for which risk identification programs were previously developed by NCREE. A typical building type in the city of Tainan is a mixed-use three-to-five-story structure. The ground floor of this typical structure is an open-front commercial or manufacturing space, which is laterally a soft story. The upper floors are residential and extend over a covered sidewalk, with column supports at the front of the building. NCREE has an established “street house” program which provides criteria for homeowners to evaluate and retrofit these structures. This program is discussed below, as well as damage and structural deficiencies related to this type of structure that were observed during a field reconnaissance trip following the Meinong Earthquake. An active evaluation and retrofit program is in place for school buildings in Taiwan. This program identifies buildings with seismic deficiencies and determines whether or not a retrofit is warranted. The program and retrofit strategies are discussed, as well as the performance of schools with and without retrofit during the Meinong Earthquake.

Conference Paper↗