Lifelines and Control of Post Earthquake Fires.
Lifelines and Control of Post Earthquake Fires.
(668 K)
Wright, R. N.
Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective.
United States/Japan Earthquake Policy Symposium.
Proceedings. September 16-18, 1996, Washington, DC,
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC,
157-164 pp, 1997.
Keywords:
earthquakes; lifelines
Abstract:
Reduction of direct and indirect earthquake losses
requires that existing public works and utilities
networks be functional following an earthquake. This
requires both minimizing damages and planning and
implementing practices for localizing effects of damages
on network performance. Earthquake damages will
initiate fires which must be controlled and extinguished
while small to avoid conflagrations such as those
following the San Francisco 1906, Tokyo 1923 and Kobe
1995 earthquakes. This requires management of
combustibles and reliable power, communication,
transportation and water supply lifelines and well
prepared fire services and general population. There is
need for a community and regional scale approach to
achieve safe performance of public works and utilities
and to plan land use and emergency management to control
fires following earthquakes. These must be supported by
technolgoies and practices for assessing and
strengthening existing lifelines, by incentives for
public officials and privately-owned utilities to take
actions to improve the seismic performance of existing
lifelines, and by advancedtechnolgoies supporting
emergency activities.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899