A cooperative translation/publication project will be undertaken on the Report on the Great Tangshan Earthquake. This chinese language report was prepared by the Institute of Engineering Mechanics in Harbin, China which is the major research institute on earthquake engineering in China. This magnitude 7.8 earthquake leveled the city of Tangshan and killed 243,000 people, and industries and city lifelines suffered major disruption. The city was composed mainly of structures that had not been designed for earthquake forces and approximately 80% of the buildings collapsed entirely or in part. Similar vulnerable cities exist in the U.S. and also in Central and South America, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia. When translated into english, the report on the Tangshan earthquake would be valuable to U.S. engineers, architects, and government officials in reducing seismic vulnerability, and in addition would be valuable to many developing countries. The relevance of the report remains high because the vulnerability of most cities remains high. It is the purpose of the translation project to make available to U.S. readers the information contained in the report and thus to encourage hazard mitigation measures.
