November 5, 1999
Contact: Ranjit Arab, University Relations, (785) 864-8855.
LAWRENCE -- Total devastation. Those were the only words University of Kansas assistant professor JoAnn Browning could find that came close to describing the tragedy she witnessed on her recent visit to Turkey.
Browning, assistant professor of civil engineering, and Steven McCabe, chair of the civil engineering department, traveled to Turkey for three days late last month to tour buildings that survived the Aug.17 earthquake. The earthquake registered 7.4 on the Richter Scale and claimed more than 15,000 lives.
By touring the buildings that managed to survive, the two professors hoped to come back with observations that could help engineers build stronger structures to withstand future earthquakes.
Still, from the thousands of residents living in tents, to the enormous piles of rubble and the blaring sound of bulldozers removing large chunks of concrete, the stark images of what did not survive remained most prominent with the two professors.
"What's amazing is to see this magnitude of damage, which is so widespread, and yet the people were so friendly and helpful to engineers to help us understand what happened," McCabe said.
McCabe said he focused primarily on the anchoring in concrete structures, while Browning dealt with the effects of ground motion on buildings and overall system performance. Although they documented their findings through photographs and videotape, McCabe said it would take some time before they could reach any conclusions.
Nonetheless, the two professors had only one day on campus before departing for the annual American Concrete Institute conference in Baltimore. Once there, McCabe said they would participate in an informal discussion with other engineers who witnessed similar devastation from the recent earthquakes in Taiwan and Mexico. Their observations will help a committee decide on new guidelines for designing concrete structures in the U.S., McCabe said.
While it still was too early to make a detailed assessment of why some buidlings survived when so many others did not, Browning said that a few factors already stood out. The buildings that did not survive tended to use smaller reinforcing bars than the ones deemed acceptable by U.S. standards. However, soil problems, construction practices and luck of the draw also contributed to determining what did and did not survive, she said.
McCabe agreed that building standards and construction practices in Turkey were often suspect in most buildings. In many instances, not enough attention was given to the care and detail of joint connections in the buildings, he said.
Both professors said that firsthand field observations were an extremely valuable learning tool. This most recent trip was funded in part by the Office of International Programs and the civil engineering department.
McCabe said the department was considering making trips to other recent earthquake sites, but funding was still an issue. The department has applied for several grants from the National Science Foundation worth more than $1 million to help continue earthquake-related research, he said.
And while they were beginning to make some sense of the enormous damage they witnessed, Browning said she still had not gotten over the initial shock.
"It's impossible to comprehend how an entire city can be totally changed by 45 seconds," she said.