Earthquake Earthquakes are broad-banded vibratory ground motions, resulting from a number of causes including tectonic ground motions,

volcanism, landslides, rock bursts, and man-made explosions. Earthquakes initiate a number of phenomena or agents, termed seismic hazards, which can cause signicant damage to the built environment these include fault rupture, vibratory ground motion (i.e., shaking), inundation (e.g., tsunami, seiche, dam failure), various kinds of permanent ground failure (e.g., liquefaction), re, or hazardous materials release. In a particular earthquake event, any particular hazard can dominate, and historically each has caused major damage and great loss of life in particular earthquakes. Typically, earthquake ground motions are powerful enough to cause damage only in the near eld (i.e., within a few tens of kilometers from the causative fault) in a few instances, long period motions have caused signicant damage at great distances, to selected lightly damped structures. Earthquake Engineering Earthquake engineering is the scientific field concerned with protecting society, the natural and the man-made environment from earthquakes by limiting the seismic risk to socio-economically acceptable levels.[1] Traditionally, it has been narrowly defined as the study of the behavior of structures and geo-structures subject to seismic loading, thus considered as a subset of both structural and geotechnical engineering. However, the tremendous costs experienced in recent earthquakes have led to an expansion of its scope to encompass disciplines from the wider field of civil engineering and from the social sciences, especially sociology, political science, economics and finance. Seismology Seismology /sazmldi/ is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like

bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes (such as explosions). A related field that uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleoseismology. A recording of earth motion as a function of time is called a seismogram. A seismologist is a scientist who does research in seismology. Tectonic Earthquake In a global sense, tectonic earthquakes result from motion between a number of large plates comprising the earths crust or lithosphere (about 15 large plates, in total), Figure 1.1. These plates are driven by the convective motion of the material in the earths mantle, which in turn is driven by the heat generated at the earths core. Relative plate motion at the fault interface is constrained by friction and/or asperities (areas of interlocking due to protrusions in the fault surfaces). However, strain energy accumulates in the plates, eventually overcomes any resistance, and causes slip between the two sides of the fault. This sudden slip, termed elastic rebound by Reid (1910) based on his studies of regional deformation following the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, releases large amounts of energy, which constitutes or is the earthquake. The location of initial radiation of seismic waves (i.e., the rst location of dynamic rupture) is termed the hypocenter, while the projection on the surface of the earth directly above the hypocenter is termed the epicenter. Other terminology includes near-eld1 (within one source dimension of the epicenter, where source dimension refers to the width or length of faulting, whichever is shorter), far-eld (beyond near-eld), and meizoseismal (the area of strong shaking and damage). Energy is radiated over a broad spectrum of frequencies through the earth, in body waves and surface waves (Bolt 1993). Body waves are of two types: P waves (transmitting energy via pushpull motion) and slower S waves (transmitting energy via shear action at right angles to the direction of motion). Surface waves are also of two types: horizontally oscillating Love waves (analogous to S body waves) and vertically oscillating Rayleigh waves. While the accumulation of strain energy

within the plate can cause motion (and consequent release of energy) at faults at any location, earthquakes occur with greatest frequency at the boundaries of the tectonic plates. The boundary of the Pacic plate is the source of nearly half of the worlds great earth- quakes. Stretching 40,000 km (24,000 miles) around the circumference of the Pacic Ocean, it includes Japan, the west coast of North America, and other highly populated areas, and is aptly termed the Ring of Fire. The interiors of plates, such as ocean basins and continental shields, are areas of low seismicity but are not inactive the largest earthquakes known to have occurred in North America, for example, occurredin1811 1812intheNewMadridarea,farfromaplateboundary.Tectonicplatesmoverelatively slowly (5 cm per year is relatively fast) and irregularly, with relatively frequent small and only occasional large earthquakes. Forces may build up for decades or centuries at plate interfaces until a large movement occurs all at once. These sudden, violent motions produce the shaking that is felt as an earthquake. The shaking can cause direct damage to buildings, roads, bridges, and other manmade structures as well as triggering landslides, res, tidal waves (tsunamis), and other damaging phenomena. Faults are the physical expression of the boundaries between adjacent tectonic plates and thus may be hundreds of miles long. In addition, there may be thousands of shorter faults parallel to or branching out from a main fault zone. Generally, the longer a fault the larger the earthquake it can generate. Beyond the main tectonic plates, there are many smaller subplates, platelets, and simple blocks of crust that occasionally move and shift due to the jostling of their neighbors and the major plates. The existence of these many subplates means that smaller but still damaging earthquakes are possible almost anywhere, although often with less likelihood. Volcanic earthquake A volcano tectonic earthquake is an earthquake induced by the movement (injection or withdrawal) of magma.[1] The movement results in pressure changes in the rock around where the magma has experienced stress. At some point, the

rock may break or move. The earthquakes may also be related to dike intrusion and may occur as earthquake swarms. Earthquakes related to volcanic activity may produce hazards which include ground cracks, ground deformation, and damage to manmade structures. There are two general categories of earthquakes that can occur at a volcano: volcanotectonic earthquakes and long period earthquakes. Earthquakes produced by stress changes in solid rock due to the injection or withdrawal of magma (molton rock) are called volcano-tectonic earthquakes (Chouet, 1993). These earthquakes can cause land to subside and can produce large ground cracks. These earthquakes can occur as rock is moving to fill in spaces where magma is no longer present. Volcano-tectonic earthquakes don't indicate that the volcano will be erupting but can occur at anytime. The second category of volcanic earthquakes are long period earthquakes which are produced by the injection of magma into surrounding rock. These earthquakes are a result of pressure changes during the unsteady transport of the magma. When magma injection is sustained a lot of earthquakes are produced (Chouet, 1993). This type of activity indicates that a volcano is about to erupt. Scientists use seismographs to record the signal from these earthquakes. This signal is known as volcanic tremor. People living near an erupting volcano are very aware of volcanic earthquakes. Their houses will shake and windows rattle from the numerous earthquakes that occur each day before and during a volcanic eruption. Residents in Pompeii felt earthquakes daily before Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79 but continued to go about their daily routines (Francis, 1993). When Mount Pinatubo in the Philipines erupted in 1991, nerves were rattled as much as windows by volcanic earthquakes. Earthquakes exhibiting volcanic tremor warn of an impending eruption so that people can be evacuated to areas of safety. The volcanic tremor signal has been used successfully to predict the 1980 eruptions Mount St. Helens and the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo. Volcano-tectonic earthquakes can cause damage to

manmade structures and landsliding. To prevent damage from being done, structures should be built according to earthquake standards, building foundations should be constructed on firm ground and not unconsolidated material which may amplify earthquake intensity, and buildings should be constructed on stable slopes in areas of low hazard potential. Newtons Second law of motion Newton's second law of motion pertains to the behavior of objects for which all existing forces are not balanced. The second law states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the object, and inversely upon the mass of the object. As the force acting upon an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is increased. As the mass of an object is increased, the acceleration of the object is decreased. The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. Application to earthquake engineering The seismic body and surface waves create inertial forces within the building. Inertial forces are created within an object when an outside force tries to make it move if it is at rest or changes its rate or direction of motion if it is moving. Inertial force takes us back to high school physics and to Newton's Second Law of Motion, for when a building shakes it is subject to inertial forces and must obey this law just as if it were a plane, a ship, or an athlete. Newton's Second Law of Motion states that an inertial force, F, equals mass, M, multiplied by the acceleration, A. Because of the inertial force formula, acceleration is a key factor in de- termining the forces on a building, but a more signicant measure is that of acceleration combined with duration, which takes into account the impact of earthquake forces over time. In general, a number of cycles of moderate acceleration,

sustained over time, can be much more difcult for a building to withstand than a single much larger peak. Continued shaking weakens a building structure and reduces its resistance to earth- quake damage. Earthquake shaking is initiated by a fault slippage in the underlying rock. As the shaking propagates to the surface, it may be amplied, depending on the intensity of shaking, the nature of the rock and, above all, the surface soil type and depth.