MCEER Response to 8.8M Chile Earthquake of February 27, 2010

Damage Report: Banco Itaú at the “Main Square” of Talca

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:37:00 +0000

The second story of this unreinforced masonry structure was added in the 2000s. While no significant damage to ceiling tiles and other equipment was observed at the first story, damage was widespread at the second story. For full details, visit the Banco Itaú Damage Report.

Team Returning Home Today

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:21:00 +0000

Message from Gilberto:

We spent the day today in Santiago and Valparaiso. We are now heading to the airport.

Yeserday we drove back to Santiago. We stopped at two hospitals and one flour plant, where many silos were damaged.

Damage Report: Félix Bulnes Hospital

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:56:00 +0000

Damage Report: Félix Bulnes Hospital
Pje 14, Quinta Normal, Santiago, Chile

The Félix Bulnes Hospital in Santiago was completely shut down after the earthquake. The first structure was constructed in the 1940s with several additions and a five-story building. For full details, visit the Félix Bulnes Hospital Damage Report.

Report from Concepción

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:54:00 +0000

From Gilberto:
We have spent the last two days around Concepción where water and restaurants are still lacking. We have been fortunate to stay with "friends of friends" and had good meals. We are now in Chillán, which is northeast of Concepción but in much better shape. We missed the big aftershocks today since we were far to the south, but have felt many aftershocks. For the large ones, we were on a boat examining an isolated pier, then noticed everyone running as the port was evacuated and a tsunami warning was issued. We slowly made it back to shore and headed uphill along with the residents. Certainly an interesting experience.

Team Safe Following Large Aftershocks

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:00:00 +0000

We got word that our team was safe in the Concepción area following the large aftershocks that occurred south of Santiago earlier today.

Gilberto reported that "there were a few “shakes” last night in the Concepción area and some areas are without water. We are fine in the south - we missed all the shaking while on a boat earlier today - we got a tsunami warning."

Team Arrives in Concepción

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:48:00 +0000

No major damage was observed at the Concepción airport. A sprinkler flooded the building and a few wood ceiling planks fell due to impact with the sprinkler heads.

Driving to Concepción

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:04:00 +0000

The team has been driving south from Talca since morning. They are now in Chillán, continuing to Concepción. There are a lot of soil failures in Retiro and collapsed silos.

Talca, Chile

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:52:00 +0000

The team arrived in Talca March 8, 2010. They report that modern [engineered] buildings that were designed according to current codes suffered minor, repairable damage, while a large number of adobe and unreinforced masonry constructions suffered significant damage, disintegration of walls and subsequent collapse. Roof trusses were made out of wood, but roof tiles were of heavy clay, as shown in the photo above. The photo was taken by Gokhan Pekcan, University of Nevada, Reno.

Team Arrives in Talca

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:34:00 +0000

We just got a text message from Gilberto telling us that they have arrived in Talca.

First Preliminary Reports from Santiago

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:37:00 +0000

The international terminal at the Santiago, Chile Airport (SCL) was inspected the morning of March 6, 2010. The airport recently started accepting international flights, but the actual international terminal remained closed. Arriving passengers collected their baggage plane-side and proceeded through two temporary large tents housing immigration and customs services. Photo provided by Gilberto Mosqueda/MCEER, University at Buffalo.

The team sent its first preliminary reports early this morning. They include visits to the Santiago International Airport, Félix Bulnes Hospital, a condominium complex with multi-story buildings, the main Santiago hospital and Vespucio Mall.

The team is planning to meet with the Ministry of Health again today, and will be joined by Eduardo Miranda, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University. They visited a hospital in Rancagua and are continuing south to Talca, where more serious damage has been reported.

View the damage summaries on MCEER's website.

Update from the Team

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:25:00 +0000

The team inspected one hospital and met with people from the Ministry of Health.

Team arrives in Santiago

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:39:00 +0000

Gilberto Mosqueda and Gokhan Pekcan arrived in Santiago, where they were joined by Rodrigo Retamales. They inspected the airport.

MCEER Team Travels to Chile

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:28:00 +0000

Gilberto Mosqueda, University at Buffalo, and Gokhan Pekcan, University of Nevada, Reno, are on their way to Santiago, Chile today. They will arrive in Santiago at 7:00 a.m. local time on Saturday March 6, 2010. They will be joined by Rodrigo Retamales, a professional structural engineer, in Santiago to begin their reconnaissance mission, which will focus on damage to nonstructural components. They are part of the EERI team.

Photo from Santiago, Chile

noreply@blogger.com (MCEER) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:57:00 +0000

This photo is of some collapsed buildings. All the columns on one side of the basement level (used for parking) collapsed, and it is not clear yet whether the columns were incorrectly designed or the quality of construction was poor. The photo and caption was provided by UB Ph.D. graduate Diego Lopez Garcia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago.