Items Tagged with 'natural disaster'

Public works departments and the design and construction firms that work for them already see fallout from the suspension of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

The industry seemed to feel trouble coming, according to a recent risk survey.

Officials continue to prioritize fighting the ongoing wildfires that have already consumed 40,600 acres in the region, but are already strategizing on how to undertake the gargantuan cleanup effort.

Kit Miyamoto’s effort as global CEO and humanitarian coordinator at engineering and disaster management firm Miyamoto International and president of the nonprofit Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief is not just work— it’s personal.

Torrential rain brought by Storm Daniel and poor maintenance of two aging, clay-core embankment dams near Derna, a coastal city, are key factors, experts say.

ENR editors are known for their prolific and sometimes challenging overseas travel, especially in reporting on disasters of all kinds.

Technical experts say quakes’ death toll and destruction were made worse by systemic problems in the nation’s building industry.

Says Kit Miyamoto, founder of engineering firm Miyamoto International, after tour of hard-hit area: "The scene of devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my 20 years of working in disaster zones." 

While some structures survived the first main shock and performed as designed, experts say having two major quakes in such close proximity would challenge even the most stringent seismic codes. 

As rescue crews continue to dig out survivors from collapsed buildings in the wake of two severe earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, killing thousands, engineers' response efforts turn toward cataloguing and evaluating structures that failed or suffered significant damage.