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Project Overview
In September 1992, an eighteen-month project commenced to
assess the earthquake hazard and risk to the capital city of
Quito, Ecuador, and, using earthquake scenarios, to design self-sustaining
programs to reduce that risk.
In the earthquake hazard assessment, a group of seismologists,
geologists, soils engineers, structural engineers, and city
planners from Ecuador, France, Japan, and the United States
developed and assembled the technical data. They analyzed Ecuador's
tectonics and earthquake history and determined the magnitudes
and locations of three plausible future earthquake events; calculated
distribution of ground shaking intensities; and, using structural
inventory and damage matrices developed for the city, estimated
distribution of damage.
The hazard and damage assessments and information on the operation
of Quito's city services were then used to design an earthquake
scenario. It was vividly written using a non-technical vernacular
to raise public awareness of the earthquake threat and motivate
government, business, and community leaders to develop mitigation
projects.
A group of international
and Ecuadorian specialists from the fields of business and industry,
city government, urban planning, emergency services, and infrastructure
then developed recommendations within their fields of expertise
for reducing earthquake risk in Quito. |
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Among numerous recommendations, such as developing
guidelines for safe construction, improving emergency planning,
and furthering scientific research, the group suggested that an
Earthquake Safety Advisory Board be established to develop, implement,
monitor, and regularly update a comprehensive earthquake risk
reduction program for Quito. |
