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Field reconnaissance of the 2007 Niigata-Chuetsu Oki earthquake
Georgios Apostolakis, Bing Qu^‡, Nurhan Ecemis and Seda Dogruel

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA

Abstract:  As part of the 2007 Tri-Center Field Mission to Japan, a reconnaissance team comprised of fourteen graduate students and three faculty members from three U.S. earthquake engineering research centers, namely, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAE), and Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), undertook a reconnaissance visit to the affected area shortly after the 2007 Niigata-Chuetsu Oki earthquake. This mission provided an opportunity to review the nature of the earthquake damage that occurred, as well as to assess the significance of the damage from an educational perspective. This paper reports on the seismological characteristics of the earthquake, preliminary findings of geotechnical and structural damage, and the causes of the observed failures or collapses. In addition, economic and socio-economic considerations and experiences to enhance earthquake resilience are presented.

Keywords:   Niigata; earthquake; reconnaissance; structural damage; geotechnical damage