- Author
- Wright, R. N.
- Title
- Lifelines and Control of Post Earthquake Fires.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective. United States/Japan Earthquake Policy Symposium. Proceedings. September 16-18, 1996, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC, Washington, DC, 157-164 p., 1997
- Keywords
- earthquakes | lifelines
- Abstract
- Reduction of direct and indirect earthquake losses requires that existing public works and utilities networks be functional following an earthquake. This requires both minimizing damages and planning and implementing practices for localizing effects of damages on network performance. Earthquake damages will initiate fires which must be controlled and extinguished while small to avoid conflagrations such as those following the San Francisco 1906, Tokyo 1923 and Kobe 1995 earthquakes. This requires management of combustibles and reliable power, communication, transportation and water supply lifelines and well prepared fire services and general population. There is need for a community and regional scale approach to achieve safe performance of public works and utilities and to plan land use and emergency management to control fires following earthquakes. These must be supported by technolgoies and practices for assessing and strengthening existing lifelines, by incentives for public officials and privately-owned utilities to take actions to improve the seismic performance of existing lifelines, and by advancedtechnolgoies supporting emergency activities.