Disaster Safety Blog

New IBHS guide helps property owners take control of their risk

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) today announced the availability of new guidelines to protect property from the effects of earthquakes. This week marks the 17th anniversary of the devastating 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake in California.

The new IBHS guide, “Earthquake Risk Around the U.S. - How to Protect Your Property,” provides information to help residents and business owners better understand the areas of a home or business most vulnerable to earthquake damage and offers solutions to minimize the risk of property losses. The information and suggestions presented in this guide range from simple weekend tasks that require basic carpentry skills to more complex projects that may require professional assistance.

Key topics covered include:
• The relationship between your home or business and an earthquake; 
• Key areas of your home or business that are especially susceptible to damage; 
• Ways you can reduce damage to your home or business and belongings; and, 
• What you can do to protect yourself and your family.

“In the U.S. we mainly associate earthquakes with California, but many other states also are at serious risk, such as South Carolina and those in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, including Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Between December 1811 and February 1812, the New Madrid Zone had four of the largest known earthquakes in North America. It was reported that the Mississippi River ran backwards and the ground motion from the last quake caused church bells to ring as far as away as Boston,” said Julie Rochman, CEO and president, IBHS.

“The deadly earthquakes in Chile and Haiti last year tragically and vividly illustrated how damaging a single event can be, and what a difference effective building codes and other loss control measures can make to lives and property,” Rochman said. “Earthquakes are not like blizzards or hurricanes; we do not a clear warning period that one is imminent in a particular place. Accordingly, we must prepare more broadly now. The IBHS guidelines provide detailed instructions to help residents and business owners become better prepared. The time to take action is before, not after, a catastrophe like a major earthquake hits.”

The guidelines are publicly available at DisasterSafety.org/earthquake. For more information, contact IBHS at (813) 286-3400 or info@ibhs.org.

Event will help residents protect property against earthquake damage

Earthquakes are no passing fancy to Southern Illinois residents who experienced a significant temblor April 18, 2008, attributed to the Wabash Valley seismic area, The Southern reports today.

With that fact in mind, public officials and the general public can learn more about seismic activity next month as John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., hosts a regional earthquake preparedness tour - "Identify your Risk, Make a Plan, and Take Action" - that is being presented by the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Institute for Business & Home Safety.

The program will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in JALC Conference Center. It is part of a six-stop tour that includes neighboring states and is a bicentennial recognition of the 1811-12 New Madrid earthquakes that occurred from a fault system in the central United States roughly between St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn.

The series of four earthquakes were among the most violent earthquakes to ever hit the U.S. with magnitudes so powerful, there were eyewitness reports the Mississippi River flowed backward and damage occurred as far away as Washington, D.C., and Charleston, S.C., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Recognition of the New Madrid on this tour is designed to get a little more awareness out there for the community. We can learn more about earthquake preparedness," said Chris Barr, coordinator of corporate training at JALC.

CUSEC officials are expected to give a scientific presentation that will detail major facts and research of the New Madrid seismic zone.

What the general public may want to pay particular attention to will be a presentation from IBHS officials that centers on business mitigation and sustainability plans before and after quake activity, Barr said.

Find all of the IBHS projects at www.DisasterSafety.org/earthquake, where you can download a free copy of the new IBHS earthquake retrofit guide.

"Our role is to help businesses and homeowners become more resilient to earthquakes," said IBHS spokesman Joseph King.

There are things homeowners can do for example such as anchoring book shelves to the wall to keep it from collapsing.

"There are specific products available now to help anchor you knickknacks. You want to work for more stability to prevent major damage and to prevent items and objects from becoming moving targets that can seriously injure you. We have new methods of keeping things stable," King said.

The tour is a precursor to a larger event scheduled by CUSEC in April - "The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut" - that will involve more than a million people in Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Already being described as the largest earthquake preparedness event in central U.S. history, the ShakeOut will be centered on a simultaneous drop, cover and hold drill that will begin at 10:15 a.m. April 28 according to a CUSEC news release.

Register for the Shakeout and do your part to get prepared.

IBHS engineer named to list of top newsmakers

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is proud to announce that Senior Vice President for Research and Chief Engineer Timothy A. Reinhold, Ph.D., has been named as one of the Top 25 Newsmakers of 2010 by Engineering News-Record.

The magazine writes, "Many people serve to improve the construction industry every day. Each year since 1964, the editors of Engineering News-Record have reviewed the stories that have appeared in the magazine during the year and selected individuals for special recognition. The newsmakers are chosen for their innovations and achievements, for giving back to the industry and the public, and for going beyond the duties of their day-to-day jobs. All the winners will be honored at a gala in New York City on April 7. Furthermore, ENR already has chosen the winner of its highest honor, the Award of Excellence. The winner will be the subject of our cover story in the April 11 issue of the magazine. In the pages that follow, ENR salutes The Top 25 Newsmakers."

Read the article that earned Dr. Reinhold the accolade.

Reducing property losses promotes healthy insurance market, says IBHS

More than two years after Hurricane Ike devastated parts of Texas, many home and business owners are still recovering. So is the the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), the state's insurer of last resort for windstorm coverage.

Today, Texas lawmakers will begin considering how to fix TWIA, which is still paying out millions of dollars in claims to victims of Hurricane Ike, the Texas Tribune reports. A joint House-Senate panel created by a 2009 bill will look at ways to restructure the program, which could include limiting the availability of insurance.

Reducing the risk of property damage due to hurricanes, hail storms and other natural disasters is one way to ensure a healthy insurance market, says Julie Rochman, president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Business & Home Safety. Finding effective ways to reduce losses was the motivation behind opening the new IBHS Research Center. See the Grand Opening Wind Demonstration Tests conducted this fall at the lab.

"Property insurance is one of those areas where loss costs continue to be through the roof," Ms. Rochman told Insurance Journal. "With investments being what they are today, the way to get to profitability, the way to keep a robust, healthy private insurance market is to lower losses. And that's what we're going to try to do [at the IBHS Research Center] is save the industry — and therefore our policyholders —millions of dollars in natural hazard losses every year."

Rochman, a former exec at the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), knows firsthand the impact of such research. The IIHS — a similar, industry-funded organization to IBHS - tests cars for safety and damage resistance and is a major player in getting carmakers to optimize life-saving and claims-reducing features.

IBHS already offers homeowners an alternative to traditional construction through its FORTIFIED for Safer Living^® new construction program, which was battle-tested by Hurricane Ike in Texas. Read more about how well FORTIFIED homes performed in hurricane conditions in the IBHS report "Hurricane Ike: Nature's Force vs. Structural Strength."

IBHS Research Center on the Las Vegas Strip

The IBHS Research Center will be featured on the digital signs located outside of the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas strip later today. The signs are located across from some of the busiest spots on the Strip – the Wynn, Venetian and Palazzo Hotels & Casinos and the Sands Expo Convention Center.

The new research facility debuted Tuesday on major television networks. This world-class lab is the only one in the world capable of testing full-scale homes and businesses against the damaging effects of Mother Nature. Keep up with what's happening at the IBHS Research Center at www.DisasterSafety.org.

IBHS Research Center in Times Square

The IBHS Research Center will be featured on the Reuters Sign in Times Square today – the sign reaches more than 1.5 billion people daily.

A photo of two houses in the lab's large test chamber - one standing and the other in a pile of rubble - will help promote the new world-class research facility in Chester County, S.C. The photo will be featured on the Reuters 7,400 square foot digital billboard that soars 23 stories above Times Square.

The aim of the building science conducted at the Research Center is to develop better ways to protect homes and businesses from the damaging effects of natural disasters such as wind and hail storms, wind-driven rain and wildfire. It's the first facility of its kind anywhere in the world. Learn more at www.DisasterSafety.org.

Big power is the key to recreating "Mother Nature in a Box"

The IBHS Research Center has an impressive array of 105 individually controlled electric fans, which are housed in an inlet structure specially designed to contract and speed the flow of air. When the fans are turned on, they draw the same amount of power as 9,000 individual homes.

Fifteen variable frequency drives control the fans; the drives are housed in a separate building with a specialized HVAC system due to the heat they generate.

Each of the 105 fans has a 300 horsepower motor. The peak electrical requirement (when all fans are running at max power) = 30 mega watts. The amount of power needed to operate the fans required the installation of a separate substation, which is depicted in the accompanying photograph. 

Learn more at www.DisasterSafety.org.

Harnessing the power of wind at the IBHS Research Center

The new IBHS Research Center uses fans to create hurricanes, wildfire ember showers, driving rainstorms, hailstorms.

 

• There are 105 fans, each one is 300 horsepower and has a diameter of 5 ft. 6 in.
• Fans similar to these are typically used in the mining industry to provide ventilation for large underground shafts.

• When all 105 fans are turned on, they will be drawing the same amount of power as 9,000 individual homes (30 megawatts of power).

• Each fan individually is capable of pushing 230,000 cubic feet of air per minute through the test section and together they can push 24 million cubic feet per minute through the test chamber. This flow volume is 20 times the flow going over Niagara Falls, or the same amount of air that would flow through the air conditioning systems of 10,000 homes when they are all running.

• The top speed of the wind generated in the test chamber is 140 mph. Later renovations to the facility could increase that speed to 175 mph.

IBHS - Where building safety research leads to real-world solutions. Learn more at www.DisasterSafety.org.

How many fans are there and how strong are they?

New resource examines green building rating systems

A new resource from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) examines current green building rating systems in a broader context, and features an innovative strong, green home built to the IBHS FORTIFIED for Safer Living® standard.

The publication "Natural Hazards and Sustainability for Residential Buildings" identifies green building practices—the tools of today’s green building rating systems — that are different from historical residential building practices and that, unless implemented with an understanding of their interactions with the rest of the structure, have the potential to compromise a building’s resistance to natural hazard events.

This document discusses how to retain or improve natural hazard resistance while incorporating these green building practices. While most common green building practices provide sustainability advantages with little or no effect on structural performance or durability, others require reevaluation of the building’s structural design or detailing to retain its integrity during natural hazard events. Often, only minimal design modifications are required to maintain natural hazard resistance.

Learn more about building FORTIFIED at www.DisasterSafety.org

New facility will challenge conventional construction

The grand opening of the Institute for Business & Home Safety Research Center is Oct. 19. Beginning today and leading up to the event, be sure to check out the Insurance Information Insitute on Twitter to learn interesting facts about the lab, then follow the link to this blog to learn how this unique facility that will change and challenge what we know about the best ways to build stronger, safer homes and businesses.

The Research Center will campus, located in Chester County, S.C., includes a 21,000 square foot test chamber. The huge clear span test chamber is attached to an array of 105 individually controlled electric fans housed in a towering inlet structure specially designed to contract and speed the flow of air, and an observation and control wing. Full-scale homes and commercial structures will be built and transported into the test chamber using a customized movement system. The structures then will be bolted down to a remotely controlled turntable and subjected to one or more natural hazards. Within the test chamber it will be possible to generate realistic Category 1, 2, and 3 hurricane-force winds, extra-tropical windstorms (those associated with the passage of a frontal system or Nor’easter), thunderstorm frontal winds, wildfires, and hailstorms. Variable droplet-sized rain, hailstones, burning embers and various types of “debris” also can be introduced into the wind stream through a series of special ducts and other mechanical systems.

Learn more at www.DisasterSafety.org.