Engineering techniques that can be used to create a very solid structure that will withstand a modest or even strong tremor. However, during a very strong earthquake, even the best designed building can suffer serious damage. Engineers design buildings to withstand as much lateral movement as possible in order to minimize damage to the structure and give occupants time to leave safely.
The buildings are basically designed to withstand a vertical load in order to support the walls, ceiling and all the inside of things to keep them standing. Earthquakes present a lateral or lateral load on the building structure which is a little more complicated to explain. One way to make a simple structure more resistant to these lateral forces is to tie the walls, floor, ceiling and foundations in a rigid box that is held together when shaken by an earthquake.
The construction of the most dangerous buildings, from the point of view of an earthquake, is an unreinforced brick or a block of concrete. Generally, this type of construction has walls that are made of bricks stacked one on top of the other and fastened with mortar. The roof is at the top. The weight of the roof is carried directly through the wall to the foundation. When this type of construction is subject to a lateral force of an earthquake the walls are overturned or crumble and the roof falls like a house of cards.
Construction techniques can have a huge impact on the death toll from earthquakes. An earthquake of 8.8 magnitude in Chile in 2010 killed more than 700 people. On January 12, 2010, a less powerful earthquake, measuring 7.0, killed more than 200,000 in Haiti.
The difference in death tolls comes from building construction and technology. In Haiti, the buildings were built quickly and cheaply. Chile, a richer and more industrialized nation, adheres to the strictest building codes.
Earthquake resistant structures are structures designed to withstand earthquakes. Although no structure can be entirely immune to earthquake damage, the goal of an earthquake resistant construction is to erect structures that improve during seismic activity than their conventional counterparts.
According to building codes, earthquake resistant structures are meant to withstand the greatest earthquake of a certain probability that is likely to occur at its location. This means that the loss of life should be minimized by preventing collapse of buildings for rare earthquakes, while loss of functionality should be limited to the most frequent.
To combat the destruction of the earthquake, the only method available to ancient architects was to build their reference structures to last, often making them excessively rigid and strong, such as the El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza.
Currently there are several design philosophies in earthquake engineering, using experimental results, computer simulations, and past earthquake observations to provide the required performance for the seismic hazard at the site of interest. These range from an adequate size of the structure to being strong and ductile sufficient to survive the shaking with acceptable damage, to equip it with insulation of the base or using structural vibration control technologies to minimize forces and deformations. While the former is the method typically applied in most earthquake resistant structures, important facilities, landmarks and cultural heritage buildings use the most advanced (and costly) techniques of isolation or control to survive strong shocks with Minimal damage. Examples of these applications are the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and the Museum of the Acropolis.