Page 83 - Building Codes News Today

Been. some >> in buildings, broken glass, a few ceiling tiles coming down on various buildings. the major damage has been to several of the highways. but as governor walker said yesterday in the wake of this earthquake, alaskans really dodged a bullet here. it could have been so much worse. there has been no reported loss of life. only a few injuries and governor walker said a lot of that is to do with a very strict building codes and the inspections that have been in place since the awful 9.0 e...

Dealing with this. >> is this something that residents in your city were prepared for? you said that this is earthquake country. but were you ready for something like this? had buildings been prepared? is there emergency response plans youre all just following in anticipation of such a day? >> its not just the emergency response plans that weve deployed. its the fact that we have building codes and building professionals here that know how to build for these kinds of conditions. i would like to ...

Collapsed leaving a vehicle stranded in middle and theres reports of sink hole downtown and rock slides blocking roads elsewhere. buildings quickly evacuated in the city. this cnn affiliate news room badly damaged. all anchorage stations knocked off the air. >> i was standing right over here. >> reporter: many residents who lived here their entire lives say this is the worst theyve ever felt. >> you hear it and feel it. youre looking around thinking it wont be that big. its going to pass. things...

A lot of lessons learned including building codes and the roads. could be worse. doesnt trace gallagher know it in los angeles. >> neil a couple of contributing factors. you said the seward highway was closed off, a couple other factors playing in. you have the bridges along the roads in alaska and the engineers are not 100% sure the bridges are solid so traffic is being diverted off. remember earlier, there was the tsunami warning. so people in low-lying areas were told the get to higher ground...

7,000 homes and businesses without power. one of the substations is ban online and no reports of lines down. thats good news for first responders trying to get to the various business districts and neighborhoods to help those that might be in need. the amazing thing is the fire chief said that he did not find any major structural damage to any of the buildings in anchorage, which after a 7.0 earthquake which is stronger than the northridge earthquake, that is astounding and a very big testament ...

Important. >> will you be staying in alaska? >> were going to look at the situation, listen to the governor. our job also is to help alaskans here. its great to go home and see people and see the damage and everything else but im going to be in this position to respond to the needs. i can do that in my seat. >> were going to figure that out at some point relatively soon. >> you guys talked about the forward planning as far as building codes and things like that may have played a role. >> may i s...

Our buildings so theyre more resistant. alaska is use -- they have very good building codes due to the 1960s earthquake. its possible that the worse off buildings were damaged in that about 40 years ago. now what were seeing is that theres new buildings that are built to better building codes. its very difficult to build when the ground is moving sideways underneath your building. >> neil: and you referred to that giant 9.2 earthquake. that was the most powerful recorded in american history. obv...

Tsunami warning. >> harris: what can you tell me about the structural building codes and things in that part of the country? if youre already hearing about these cracks and youre not all impressed with a 7.0 because of where this happened, talk to me about how prepared structures are. if >> anchorage and alaska in general is a size of the active region and they do get lots of large earthquakes. the structures and that region are fairly well prepared to weathering earthquake. >> harris: and the p...

Department there were three fires after the earthquake. all have been put out. no injuries, no major damage. the fire department is saying that they have gone around the city and have not seen significant structural damage in the city of anchorage. thats amazing. the mayor has echoed that saying that having gone through this size earthquake and not having any major structural damage is a testament to how prepared they have been. if you dont know, alaska gets earthquakes pretty much everyone 5 mi...

So that is something that could go on for days and a known problem in the past as that aftershocks can continue for days on end when you have a large earthquake. vulnerable structures are more likely to then collapse when you have aftershocks. if you live in a building that is earthquake secure there are building codes that have been put in in the past few decades that help to mitigate against the damage that you could get from earthquakes. im sure that a lot of local governments have safe place...