Disaster Safety Blog

Insured damage estimates emerging from Japan's disaster

Property damage from Japan's deadly earthquake and tsunami Friday could top $34 billion, according to initial estimates from AIR Worldwide. It was the most powerful earthquake to hit Japan since records began in the 19th century, and the fifth largest quake anywhere in the world in 110 years.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, some 1,200 buildings were destroyed. AIR has estimated the insured property losses at between $14.6 billion and $34 billion.

Comparisons are being drawn between Friday's quake and the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the Japanese city of Kobe in January 1995. Some 6,500 people died in that disaster, which caused $122 billion in property damage.

The risk of earthquake in the United States is high in many regions. Find solutions to help protect your property with help from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety at www.DisasterSafety.org/earthquake.

Japan's building codes earn praise post-quake

From seawalls that line stretches of Japan’s coastline, to skyscrapers that sway to absorb earthquakes, to building codes that are among the world’s most rigorous, no country may be better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan, The New York Times reports.

Had any other populous country suffered the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, tens of thousands of people might already be counted among the dead. So far, Japan’s death toll is in the hundreds, although it is certain to rise.

Over the years, Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology against earthquakes and tsunamis. The Japanese, who regularly experience smaller earthquakes and have lived through major ones, know how to react to quakes and tsunamis because of regular drills — unlike Southeast Asians, many of whom died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because they lingered near the coast.

Communities along Japan’s coastline, especially in areas that have been hit by tsunamis in the past, tend to be the best prepared. Local authorities can usually contact residents directly through warning systems set up in each home; footpaths and other escape routes leading to higher ground tend to be clearly marked.

Find out how the building codes in your state stack up at DisasterSafety.org.

Earthquake destroys more than 500 properties, damages many more

At least 22 people were killed and hundreds injured today when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck southwest China's Yunnan province near the border with Myanmar, according to news reports.

The earthquake destroyed at least 580 houses and damaged countless others at Yingjiang.

The earthquake is the largest of more than 1,200 minor tremors over the last two months in the region, seismologists told reporters. It was followed by three aftershocks, measuring up to 4.7 magnitude within 10 minutes of the first tremor.

Eight earthquakes registering higher than 5 magnitude struck the area between 1991 and 2008, according to China's Earthquake Administration.

This quake and the recent one in New Zealand remind us that these events happen without warning. If you live or work in an earthquake-prone area, take steps now to secure your property against damage. They are things you can do to reduce the risk of severe damage and injury. Find out more at www.DisasterSafety.org/earthquake. Download a free copy of the new IBHS Guide Earthquake Risks around the U.S. - How to Protect Your Property.

 

Wild weather puts properties at increased risk of damage

Weather across the U.S. is a case of extremes right now and threats to properties remain high. Take control of your risk, regardless of what threats you may be facing.

In the west and parts of the south and east, including Florida and Texas, drought conditions and windy weather have elevated the threat of wildfires. While in parts of the Midwest and southeast, residents are dealing with swollen rivers and flooded communities. Communities along the east coast are once again digging out from a snowstorm. Another storm is expected to hit the east coast later this week.

Find resources to protect your property from flooding, freezing weather, wildfire and other natural hazards at DisasterSafety.org, where you can enter your ZIP Code and get a personalized list of risks that face the areas where you live and work.

Living on shaky ground: Learning from New Zealand's quakes

A 4.7-magnitude earthquake that researchers described as the largest in Arkansas in 35 years was recorded late Sunday night near Greenbrier. It was the latest in a swarm of quakes that has bedeviled the region since early last fall, according to The New York Times. There were no reports of major damage, though some residents spoke of dislodged screen doors and cracked ceilings. Damage or not, some said this was the longest and scariest quake yet, the newspaper reports.

This earthquake swarm in Arkansas should serve as a reminder of the seismic risks facing properties in surrounding states, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee to name a few. So what can residents living in these areas do to become better prepared? Learning from the recent quakes in New Zealand is a good place to start.

SmartPlanet.com's recent interview wtih Thomas O’Rourke, an engineering professor at Cornell University, focused on the earthquake in New Zealand last month that killed dozens of people and toppled buildings in Christchurch. O'Rourke says this event has implications for future disasters in the United States.

O’Rourke, who lived and worked in Christchurch, explained why an earthquake with a moderate intensity level caused such destruction — and what lessons we should take away from the disaster. 

Here is an excerpt from the interview. Read the full report at SmartPlanet.com.

SmartPlanet.com: Since this was a moderate earthquake, how do you explain the level of damage?

O'Rourke: The New Zealanders are among some of the best seismic engineers in the world. They have one of the oldest codes. It’s certainly as old as the code in the United States for earthquakes. They also have a very up-to-date approach to structural design, disaster preparedness, understanding the effects of earthquakes on their built infrastructure and undertaking measures to ensure as good a performance as possible from their lifeline networks, such as transportation, water supply, electric power, telecommunications. They had a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 4, 2010. The epicenter of this earthquake was located about 12 to 15 kilometers to the west of Christchurch. It’s very close and they did sustain significant levels of acceleration and other types of ground motion and they had massive liquefaction during that event. Yet not a single person died.

That reflects more than luck. It reflects many of the codes they had in place for their more modern buildings and the steps they’d taken to ensure that there would be a reliable response from their infrastructure.

The second event [in New Zealand] is really extraordinary in the fact that it was a rupture that occurred underneath the port of Lyttelton and a little north of Lyttelton, very close to the business district of Christchurch. It generated some significant dynamic movements or strong ground motions and it had a very significant impact on the built environment.

The central business district of Christchurch has a lot of unreinforced masonry structures. Many, if not the grand majority, of the unreinforced masonry structures have either collapsed or sustained serious damage.

The type of motion we’re seeing from this small magnitude earthquake, because of its proximity to the central business district, is very similar to the ground shaking one might [see] in earthquakes in the United States. [This is in places] where the infrastructure and ground behavior has certain very similar characteristics to what we see in Christchurch. In 1812, there were three earthquakes in the Mississippi River area. There is historical evidence for soil liquefaction. If you want a good likeness to what would happen if we had a severe earthquake in the New Madrid zone, all you’d have to do is look at the central business district of Christchurch.

We have even a greater concentration of unreinforced masonry structures in places like Memphis and St. Louis that would be vulnerable to this type of event. We know that recent sediments from the Mississippi River are very similar to those of sediments in New Zealand. So when you look at the massive liquefaction in Christchurch, you don’t have to have a lot of imagination to understand what would actually happen in a large and severe Midwestern earthquake.

CEA rolls out retrofit program in California

California’s nonprofit earthquake insurance provider is shaking up its efforts to protect lives and property, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA), which is an IBHS member company, is devoting $23 million to launch a retrofit program that would give owners $1,000 each to improve their home's ability to withstand quake damage. The newspaper says the program could boost business for remodeling contractors during the weak economy.

CEA Earthquake Response Manager Dan Dyce joined IBHS and representatives from the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium and the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the Earthquakes: Mean Business conference earlier this month in St. Louis. Dyce briefly discussed plans for the retrofit program during a panel discussion, which included IBHS, CUSEC and FEMA representatives, who discussed structural and non-structural retrofit options and business continuity planning tools.

IBHS offers the Open for Business^® program to help small business owners prioritize their plans to safeguard their business against all types of natural and manmade risks, including earthquakes. Download a free copy.

Building code update would require stronger enforcement in Memphis

An update to the commercial building code in Memphis, Tenn., which is considered among the cities at highest risk of damage from an earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone, is expected to take effect this spring, pending final approval by city and county officials, according to the Commercial Appeal. The newspaper reports "the code will make buildings not just safer, but better, more serviceable."

According to the report, the new rules will require more inspections to ensure the code is being met. The existing code lacks enforcement requirements.

The new seismic codes emphasize creating a continuous load path from the roof to the foundation with the intent of increasing the building's ability to do more than just allow people to escape prior to a collapse, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper also reports along with the code update, there also is now an increased focus on encouraging non-structural mitigation, such as securing bookshelves, hanging fixtures and appliances, to prevent items from falling on people. Falling objects are the major source of damage due to earthquakes in the Midwest, according to the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC). Both of these factors will allow a busienss to re-open quickly with little or no damage after an earthquake.

Structural and non-structural mitigation, along with a push for strong building codes and enforcement in the Midwest, were the focus of an earthquake outreach initiative conducted by IBHS, CUSEC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this month in five states, including Tennessee.

The newspaper describes the new Tennessee building code classifications in four ways:

Collapse prevention. It's like the crumple zone of a car. The auto may be totaled, but you can walk away from a crash.

Life safety. Better secures nonstructural elements of a building, such as light fixtures and bookcases that could fall on people. The building might still be unusable or require massive renovation, but its occupants were able to get out. This is the level the updated code is targeting most buildings, Paullus said.

Immediate occupancy. Building withstands a quake so well that it's repairable with a few months of work.

Essential structures. These are buildings everyone will depend on for recovery and order should a quake hit. They include police and fire stations, hospital operating rooms and military installations. These structures are so resistant, a quake may cause people inside to fall, but they can get up and go back to work.

For more information on protecting businesses and homes from earthquake damage through structural and non-structural mitigation projects, download a free copy of the IBHS guide "Earthquake Risk Around the U.S. - How to Protect Your Property."

Wildfire is focus of spring work at IBHS Research Center

Engineers at the IBHS Research Center are hard at work creating ember storms to see how homes and businesses can be better constructed and retrofitted to be withstand wildfires.

IBHS researchers are working with experts from the Savannah River National Laboratory, the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate to prepare for the first-ever full-scale wildfire simulation. The simulation will be conducted in March at the lab in South Carolina, and it is just the beginning of wildfire research to be conducted there.

During the simulation on March 24, a 1,200 square foot, one-story home will be placed on the turntable in the lab's large test chamber. The home will be subjected to radiant heat and a wind-blown ember shower to demonstrate differences in ignition potential between various construction techniques, building materials, and landscaping materials.

Wildfire is a threat in 38 states. Find out how to protect your home or business with an IBHS wildfire retrofit guide created for your region. Visit www.DisasterSafety.org/wildfire .

Roof collapses prompt calls for inspections to prevent further damage

Roofs collapsed in a number of Massachusetts communities yesterday under the crushing weight of built-up snow and ice, with the worst destruction occurring in Easton, the Boston Globe reports.

On Wednesday, more than 100 workers managed to escape the collapse of a roof at a 150,000-square foot office building in Easton, the newspaper reports. The collapse then triggered a gas leak. The roof collapses around the state have since prompted fire officials to contact local schools and call for inspections to determine structural integrity.

The winter storm has passed, but another round of snow and ice are forecast for next week. Take this opportunity to have the roof cleared on your home or business, urges the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). Check out the guidelines from IBHS to determine how much snow and ice may be too much for the roof to handle. 

Prepare now for the latest round of winter weather

It seems fitting that in a week that includes Groundhog Day, a massive winter storm is once again bearing down on the nation. This time it's the midsection that is bracing for high winds, freezing rain and snow and ice early this week. Later in the week, the northeast will once again be under the threat of severe winter weather. For residents in both regions, their daily weather forecast has been a sort of Groundhog Day since December.

The National Weather Service said the most recent winter storm's "stripe of snow" will move eastward across the central plains and into the Ohio Valley and touch parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

As the storm builds on Monday, though, the band of heaviest snowfall is expected in parts of southwest and northeast Missouri, including central sections of the state, which will receive between six inches and a foot of snowfall and winds between 20 and 30 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Chicago and Milwaukee were expected to be particularly hard-hit. The weather service issued a blizzard watch for Tuesday and Wednesday for southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois and northwest Indiana that included those cities.

Forecasters said snowfall totals could reach up to 2 feet in some areas by the time the storm system has moved through the region.

The weather service said the heavy snowfall combined with high winds could create whiteout conditions, particularly on Tuesday night into Wednesday. Snow drifts of 5 feet to 10 feet are possible. The service said winds on Tuesday could reach up to 60 mph in open areas and near Lake Michigan.

Once the storm has moved through, bitterly cold temperatures are expected to grip much of the region.

After slamming the Plains and Midwest, the storm will move into the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and New England regions early Wednesday morning, Groundhog Day, with conditions improving early Thursday. The heaviest snow is expected across the interior northeast from Pennsylvania into upstate New York and New England.

Find resources to protect your property from ice and snow and to safely use heating equipment at DisasterSafety.org.