RAPID: Learning from Earthquakes - Performance and Resilience Data from the March 2011 Tohoku, Japan Earthquake on Bridges, Buildings, and Government and Community Response

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland CA

Investigators

Abstract

The 11 March 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tohoku, Japan earthquake, with its ensuing tsunami, surprised many in the research and practicing professions. An earthquake of this size was not anticipated; the Japan Trench subduction zone had been assumed capable of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake but not much greater. Early reports indicate the constructed environment survived the ground shaking reasonably well given the magnitude of the event. However, the tsunami overpowered coastal defenses and caused wide-spread devastation along Japan's northeast coast. This event is an important learning opportunity for U.S. researchers due to (1) the many similarities between this event and a possible Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and tsunami that could affect western U.S. coastal communities and (2) the paucity of knowledge currently available on the effects of a catastrophic disaster in a developed country with many engineered structures designed or retrofitted for earthquake loads. The U.S. and Japan are both highly industrialized and advanced economies with many commonalities in their built infrastructure. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) award builds on the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's (EERI) long-term relationships with Japanese researchers and practicing engineers to organize the rapid collection of perishable data and early field reconnaissance from this 2011 event as a fully collaborative effort. Researchers supported on this award will team directly with respective Japanese colleagues to undertake field investigations followed by jointly authored reports. The primary collaborating organizations are the Architectural Institute of Japan, the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University, and the Japan Association for Earthquake Engineering. Three research themes have been identified for the rapid collection of perishable data: transportation systems, particularly bridges; engineered buildings, including the large inventory of retrofitted structures and use of modern technologies such as base isolation; and government and community response, in the areas of emergency response, social capital, institutional frameworks, and rebuilding, for a disaster of this extraordinary scale and complexity. The data from this reconnaissance will be used to advance knowledge in seismic bridge retrofit and design requirements; seismic performance of structures with protective systems and concrete and steel buildings; and resilience, response, and recovery for a catastrophic event. Findings from the reconnaissance investigations will be shared widely with the broader research and practicing earthquake engineering community through EERI's clearinghouse web site, short research summaries posted on the clearinghouse and in inserts to the EERI monthly newsletter, and a web cast.