Inventory of Essential Facilities in Mid-America

Abstract

The earthquake hazard in mid-America is characterized by large, but infrequent
\nevents. As a result, the level of seismic building design and retrofit is generally
\nthought to be lower than in many other seismically active regions, however the
\nexact nature of the building stock is not known. In developing its research
\nagenda the Mid-America Earthquake Center determined that an inventory of
\nessential facilities in the region was part of the foundation needed to support its
\nresearch efforts. Rather than focus on the entire building stock, we selected
\nessential facilities as the most critical target for this initial investigation. Essential
\nfacilities are those facilities that must play an important role in the recovery
\nperiod following an earthquake. They include hospitals, police and fire stations
\nand schools, which often serve as emergency shelters.
\nThis report summarizes the analysis of 1306 essential facilities for which key
\nstructural characteristics were collected through telephone survey contacts. The
\nessential facility inventory was found to be relatively fragile with a large number
\nof unreinforced masonry structures. Schools appear to be the most vulnerable
\ntype of facility due to their age, construction types and location with respect to the
\nhazard. The data described here is available to state and local emergency
\nmanagers over the Internet:
\nhttp://mae.ce.uiuc.edu/ResearchPrograms/CRP/BodyEFP.htm or
\nhttp://cgis.gatech.edu/Projects/projects.html.