The 1995 Hyogoen-Nanbu earthquake claimed more than 5500 lives and caused damage in excess of 100 billion dollars. Gas, water, and electric utility lines reptured. Bridges and overpasses on highways, railroads and subways collapsed. High-rise residential and office structures were severely damaged. Liquefied soils settled and spread laterally along the coast and in docks, piers, sea walls, and quays. Kilometers of docks and quay walls titled and settled both at the coast and in the man-made islands, Port Island and Rokko Island. The entire port of Kobe was almost completely destroyed. This urban disaster resulted from an earthquake striking directly within a densely populated urban area. A similar devastation was fortunately avoided in the San Fernando Valley in California since the 1994 Northridge earthquake released its energy away from populated areas.
This action is to support a collaborative research program involving a team of US and Japanese researchers. The US side includes professors and students form Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Southern California. Several US government and industry organizations have also agreed to cooperate, including the Multidiciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering research [MCEER- formerly NCEER], the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological survey, and Woodward-Clyde Consultants. On the Japanese side, the team consists of professors and students from Kyoto University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and Yamaguchi University. Several Japanese government and industry organizations will also contribute to the research effort.
The main objective is to investigate the effects of liquefaction induced deformation on foundations and lifeline systems in the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquakes, and to propose engineering solutions to mitigate these devastating effects in future earthquakes. The findings of the research teams will contribute to the implementation of performance-based design in geotechnical and structural engineering in the United States and Japan.
