ISAT What's Hot - Seismic Retrofitting

In the aftermath of destructive earthquakes in both Haiti (7.0 magnitude) and Chile (8.8 magnitude), construction professionals worldwide feel a growing sense of urgency for ensuring that all types of public and private facilities meet seismic building codes. While recent earthquake activity has been widespread and frequent globally, these two large magnitude earthquakes provide vivid evidence of the devastating effects of failing to meet seismic building code requirements, both structurally and non-structurally. 

In response to Chile's earthquake, Dr. Jayanta Guin, senior vice president of research for AIR Worldwide states, "The total economic loss is likely to be severe from damage not only to buildings, but from the widespread impact on infrastructure, including airports, utilities and telecommunications networks."  Guin continued, "In the capital of Santiago, some 325km northeast of the epicenter, newer buildings have sustained major damage to nonstructural elements. Damage to contents is expected to be significant. However, most newer buildings in the capital remain standing, illustrating the effectiveness of Chile's building code, even in the face of such a major quake."

In the Northern region of Chile, some hospitals suffered nonstructural damage and were forced to evacuate facilities immediately as a preventative measure. “This is not an unusual outcome in the aftermath of an earthquake in a  facility that is not seismically braced or retrofitted up to the required building code” explains Jim Massey Vice President of ISAT Seismic Bracing. After completing over 5,000 seismic bracing and retrofitting projects worldwide, members of the ISAT team have witnessed first-hand the financial and human consequences that result from sub-standard construction or misunderstood seismic building code.

After nine years of direct project experience, ISAT has refined and streamlined methods that building owners, engineers, contractors, architects, inspectors, and risk mitigation professionals trust.

READ MORE to find out how ISAT can achieve code compliance with little to no down time for your facility and to see successful examples.