UNR Scientist: Surprises and Lessons Seen in Chile

As the nation of Chile recovers from the devastating earthquake that shook that country, scientists from all over the world are going there to learn.

One of the first on the scene was UNR engineering professor Dr. Gokhan Pekcan. He returned to Reno this week impressed by what he saw and didn't see.

"What really surprised us is that we didn't see the kind of damage we'd expected from an 8.8 earthquake," says Pekcan. "When structures were designed and built properly they fared well."

That may be because more than almost any other country on the globe, Chile has lived with and prepared for large earthquakes. There's a high standard of engineering. Building codes and construction materials are similar to the U-S and they've been strengthened over the years.

Dr. Pekcan says the preparation paid off. In fact, he says, one could follow the evolution of those standards on the same site. He says some Chilean hospitals had buildings added on over the years.

"The older buildings were more heavily damaged than the newer structures," he says. "In fact, some of the newer buildings suffered no damage whatsoever."

Pekcan's specific interest is in damage to the non-structural elements of a building. The kind of damage that the first to be cleaned up. One reason Pekcan wanted to be on the scene as early as possible.

For instance, he pointed to damage to steel framed structures with tilt up non-structural concrete panels, a common kind of construction here in the U-S, the kind seen all over the Truckee Meadows in warehouses and large commercial buildings.

"If those panels are attached correctly, damage is limited, if not, the panels came down," he said pointing to a picture of the collapsed walls of a Chilean equivalent of a Home Depot home improvement store.

There were, Pekcan says, examples of design faults on newer buildings, pointing to another picture of an apartment building that fell on its side, a piece of damage that turned up in many of the news reports from Chile.