Download Script! - Canadian Academy

1st slide:
Can we survive this? That is my unit question. I am addressing a problem in
Haiti and Japan. My question is: How do construction techniques for earthquake
differ in Japan and Haiti? I will be explaining how economical and political issues
affect and apply to this problem, as well as science. I am interested in this because I
have always been curious about how a building can prevent damage from an
earthquake.
2nd Slide:
Earthquakes are movements of plates in the earth. Stress builds up and then
it suddenly releases. The vibration or motion that you feel is the stress that is
released. When an earthquake occurs there is a focus. A focus is the main point of
the earthquake. Directly under the focus is an epicenter. From the focus point there
are waves that travel through the earth’s layers. There are two different types of
layers P and S waves.
3rd Slide:
P waves travel through solids, liquids, and gases. Unlike S waves, they only
travel through solids. There are also surface waves, which cause the most damage.
When an earthquake’s epicenter is near shore it can cause a tsunami. They can also
cause landslides and/or volcanic activity. There are also three types of faults: strikeslip, normal, and thrust faults. They can leave land hanging or distorted. All of these
earthquakes occur at plate boundaries.
4th Slide:
The way a wave moves, in-particular S waves, react like an accordion.
The wave will move slowly which will cause the building to become off balance.
There are shock absorbers that help prevent this. The P wave’s motion will be
“absorbed” from the absorbers helping support the building on a more balanced
floor. Steel will help bend the building, which makes it move with the earthquake.
There are many other rules or codes that help prevent this disaster from happening
such as: damping, shear walls, movement-resistant frames, and more. With all this,
the building sways along with the shock absorbers taking away less of the motion.
These are all codes for the building to react in a calm way so it does not crush to the
ground. Bill Faschan explained: “ The basic idea, particularly (for) a tall building, is
it’s supposed to act like a tree. A tree in the wind, it sways back and forth. And in a
seismic event, it’s very similar. Obviously, the ground (is) shaking as opposed to the
building being moved back and forth by the wind, but (it's) the same idea. It’s
supposed to move. It’s supposed to give.”
If damage were to occur than it would be rated on a scale, the mercalli
scale. It has twelve different levels. Though to make it short and sweet its basically
minor damage: few things broken; moderate damage: cracks in walls; and total
damage: building collapses. This scale rates the damage done to a building after an
earthquake. Depending on the damage it will get one of the ratings listed before.
5th slide:
The earthquake damage I will be evaluating in Japan from March 11, 2011.
Japan is different from Haiti. Japan has strict buildings codes that help keep a
structured plan for safety for future earthquakes. The most damage came from
tsunami. Though building codes are not just for earthquakes, which Japan was
prepared for. This mixture of an earthquake and tsunami was something completely
unexpected for many different reasons. The earthquake broke a record meaning it
broke many buildings too. Japan’s strict buildings codes include things like: extra
steel bracing, giant rubber pads, additional damping, and hydraulic shock absorbers.
Even though Japan was prepared they were hit hard. Many people died, lots of
power was cut, people were kicked out of homes, and radiation was spreading.
Japan is located in the Ring of Fire making it a common area for earthquakes. Lots of
land was covered in water, dead fish, buildings even had boats on top of them! What
could Japan change to help prevent another one of these natural disasters from
happening.
6th slide:
Japan is not known for a having a bad environment. After this tragic event
people were kicked out of their homes, boats were on top of buildings; nothing was
as available as it was before. I know from experience from helping the Tohoku area.
Canadian Academy was helping raise money and giving goods. The Tohoku people
were restricted to school gyms nearly stacked onto each other. Rice had to be given
because their fields were no longer available to them. Transportation was cut off
such as the airport, which was mostly underwater. Massive destruction was done
along the coast. Radiation was leaking out into the air spreading to Tokyo. The
radiators were exploding cutting out power, which led to more than just
environmental problems.
7th Slide:
One of Japan’s major exports for vehicles were closed because of the tsunami
and earthquake. Industry experts say this will greatly effect Japan car trade
recession. Toyota’s shares fell by 2.1%. Not only that but also five million homes are
without power in Japan. Not only is it affecting the economy but the people as well.
Businessmen have had to go into the office at extremely early times and putting a lot
of time into work instead of family. More than 54 nuclear plants have been shut
down for maintenance. If this unstable supply of energy continuous many people
will be losing jobs. People are making tough sacrifices but it’s paying off. Although, if
this continues, Japan’s industry will go offshore with jobs.
8th Slide:
Haiti had already had a tough time from recent earthquakes. This was also a
very big earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0. Haiti had tens of thousands of lives
were taken. Haiti has a fault the runs right through it and is along the boundary
between the Caribbean and North American plates. Many were killed because of the
poorly structured buildings. They do not have national building codes either. Some
buildings were stacked on bricks; many were in unreinforced buildings with bricks,
block, or concrete. With no steal in buildings, the building will literally crumble. All
of these materials are vulnerable to earthquakes. Although, there are designs
structured out of reinforced concrete that is great to withstand earthquakes.
Professor Clay Naito says, “ The problem is when you leave out the details. Details
such as matching the strength of columns to the mass of the floors they’re
supporting.” Not like they haven’t been through enough but there were to after
shocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. Luckily, the earthquake occurred on land, it did not
start a tsunami. Many people were sitting streets having no place to go, not even
somewhere as simple as a school gym. Haiti also has a threat of mudslides because
of their steep slopes. This will and can cause major problems leaving more people
homeless. Japan is different from Haiti because they have a structured system for
their buildings. Even though Japan had building codes that helped them, somewhat.
Though if Haiti had done the same it would have prevented them from the mass
destruction that occurred. Haiti has been trying to clean up the government,
environment, and aid their people since the 60’s. Something as small as building
codes would have saved them from a mass of trouble.
9th Slide:
Environmentally, Haiti is not doing well. There are people living on sidewalks
having nowhere to go. There are few shelters to help those who are stranded. The
mudslides will or have buried homes, blocked streams, rivers, and roads. There are
crumpled buildings in the middle of the roads. Haiti is lying in ruins. Haiti also has
very little tress left; it’s one of the most deforested nations in the hemisphere. They
still lie this way today hardly making any progress compared to Japan. Like we did
last year with our water assignment testing the water with many different areas.
The water is not clean. There is really no place for anyone to stay. People wander
the streets not cleaning, not trying to make it better. There are piles of trash laying
everywhere. The Red Cross has been helping Haiti for a long time and is continuing
to help. Unlike Haiti, Japan has made extreme progress from land that was covered
in boats, trash, cars, anything to what looks like brand new land.
10th Slide:
Haiti has had a corrupt economy for a long time. Most of Haiti’s money is
coming from donors around the world. Haiti has to make sure the money is spent
properly, but that is a challenge. Two thirds of Haiti’s 9 million populations are
unemployed. There is a lot of theft and other crime in Haiti. Though things have
gotten better from help form the United Nations and donations from countries to try
to decrease the debt Haiti must pay over the last year and a half. There economy is
improving, but little at a time. More good news is that 150 public officials met to
develop plans to create jobs. Japan and Haiti are making some serious progress.
There building designs may have been way different but they still landed in the
same spot economically. Over time both countries will begin to rise in economical
areas, environmentally, and continuing to improve their design to prevent
earthquake damage to there buildings.
11th Slide:
Resources
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Japan Earthquake: Engineering that saved lives « Construction Law in North
Carolina. (2011, March 18). Construction Law in North Carolina.
Retrieved from http://constructionlawnc.com/ 2011/03/18/japanearthquake/.
Japan quake and tsunami - Day two as it happened | WORLD News. (2010,
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TVNZ. Retrieved from http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/live-updatesjapan-earthquake-4058682.
Joyce, C. (2010, January 14). Haiti's Buildings Weren't Fit To Withstand
Quakes : NPR. NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World,
US, Music & Arts : NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/
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Leavy, M. (2011, March 11). Earthquake Engineering and the Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami | Britannica Blog. Encyclopedia - Britannica
Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2011/03/earthquake-engineeringjapan-earthquake-.
McLEAN, A., QUEALY, K., & ERICSON, M. (2011, March 15). Satellite Photos
Japan Before and After Tsunami - NYTimes.com. NY Times
Advertisement. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/
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Seismic Design Principles | Whole Building Design Guide. (2010, June 17).
WBDG - The Whole Building Design Guide. Retrieved from http://www.
wbdg.org/resources/seismic_design.php.
Schoen, J. (2010, January 15). Quake crushes Haiti’s economic revival –
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science and tech news, world news, US news, local news- msnbc.com.
Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/ 34866872/
ns/business-world_business/t/quake-crushes-haitis-economicrevival/#.TsjtQGBeMb1.
What caused the devastating Haiti earthquake? - Technology & science –
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Breaking news, science and tech news, world news, US news, local
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34842469/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/what-causeddevastating-haiti-earthquake.