Er...the Loma Preita quake was in northern California. I rode out that quake on the fourth floor of a fabric store in downtown SF. At that time I was living in my parent's two story house thirty miles away in San Carlos. Their house had no structural damage. I credit it to the bedrock the house was built on.
Yurts - Relatively Safe Housing for Earthquake-Prone Areas???
by ziddina 62 Replies latest social current
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ziddina
Yes, it was. But we felt it a bit in southern California, too.
And we saw the news film. Live. For about 4 weeks, there wasn't anything else on TV out there in California, north OR south.
Those of us living in the LA basin knew it could have been us, instead.
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ziddina
And speaking of using one's imagination - and buildings made of fabric...
No one would accuse THESE structures of being "tents"!
"An 80-foot by 180-foot tensioned fabric building houses a year-round horse riding training center in Haymarket, Va. Made by Span-Tech Fabric Buildings, the fabric used was ECP RU88X-6 Nova-Shield II from Intertape Polymer Group Inc. Photo: Span-Tech. ..."
From: http://specialtyfabricsreview.com/articles/0911_f1_agricultural_fabric.html
Notice there are some similarities to a traditional yurt - ger. The struts supporting the fabric walls have an interlocking or interwoven technique, and the struts appear to curve towards a central point.
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ziddina
And this should look familiar to those of you who were paying attention to the details...
From: http://empac.rpi.edu/building/
Again, note the similarities to a yurt/ger's construction. A system of struts support walls and roof - in this case, however, only the ceiling pictured above is actually made of fabric - but the underlying principle of yurt/ger construction - multiple struts interlaced for greater strength and flexibility - are being used.
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mrsjones5
Well then you know that most of the damage was due to unreinforced buildings or walls and to structures that were built on landfill (the Marina district of SF). The worst and most horrific damage was to the double decker freeway part of 880 that past through West Oakland (I apparently had good reason for hating to drive on that section). Having to watch live reports and know folks who helped pull people out of that horror was heart wrenching indeed.
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ziddina
Another photo from that EMPAC building...
And another:
Here's the entire building - exterior view... It appears to have also borrowed from ship-building techniques...
And a different view from outside the building:
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ziddina
Crap, I think the thread just broke...
Anyway, THAT is what I meant when I said, "Use your imagination" and "yurt construction techniques could be used in larger buildings"...
Zid
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ziddina
"Having to watch live reports and know folks who helped pull people out of that horror was heart wrenching indeed. ..." Mrs. Jones
Not to derail this thread , since it's supposed to be about life-saving solutions, not reliving past horrors, but...
Nearly every person on that lower level of the highway did not survive.
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ziddina
Having posted those pix of LARGER "tents", I must point this out...
Even with a large structure of fabric and wood - or fabric and steel - there is still the possibility of injury and death.
However, hopefully use of lighter, stronger materials in a more 'interwoven' form of support, and with adequate materials, would help to lower the death/injury tolls in future.
That IS what we're all hoping for, right??
