As central Italy recovers from a magnitude-6.2 earthquake that struck Wednesday, researchers are investigating ways to minimize the impact of similar disasters.
Officials say the death toll is 250 as of Thursday. The quake has also levelled three towns, including the historic Amatrice.
At the University of Toronto, civil engineering professor Constantin Christopoulos and a team of researchers are exploring ways to build structures that could withstand major earthquakes.
“We realize that the damage is so severe that even if casualties are limited the impact on the economy and society could be very devastating,” Christopoulos told Your Morning Thursday.
“Our focus now is on building buildings that are literally undamaged during major earthquakes.”
One of these innovations is the yielding connector. The wrench-shaped steel fixture is attached to the corner of a building’s key beams; only instead of staying in place it moves along with potential tremors.
“It absorbs damage from the earthquake into the sacrificial steel elements,” he said. The connectors are built according to the intensity of earthquakes in specific locations.
In urban centres, coupling dampers are an important innovation. They line the middle of high-rises and are designed to absorb the energy from high winds and earthquakes. Stabilizing skyscrapers helps prevent floors from collapsing in what are known as “pancake failures.”
Christopoulos hopes to see these technologies incorporated into all buildings in the future but he said dealing with aging structures, such as those in Italy, is an entirely different story.
“There’s ways to retrofit and that’s more tricky and there’s an element of cost,” he said.
Canada is still shifting the building style of the last century, he said.
In the 1980s Canada required new buildings to be in line with seismic design code. Christopoulos said many buildings from before that time needed to be retrofitted.
“Even modern buildings sustain damage,” he said.
On average, there are more than 4,000 earthquakes in Canada each year, although only 50 are strong enough to register.
British Columbia, particularly Vancouver Island, sees the most seismic activity in the country. Christopoulos said this is because it’s situated along a system of very active plates.
