Earthquakes

'The need is urgent': Earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye turn crisis into catastrophe

Christopher.Sorensen — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 00:25:02 +0000

'The need is urgent': Earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye turn crisis into catastrophe

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 02/10/2023 - 19:25

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Earthquakes have devastated Türkiye and parts of neighbouring Syria, where survivors took shelter in tents in the city of Idlib (photo by Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Global Lens

Türkiye

Earthquakes

Global

Joseph Wong

Syria

U of T Mississauga

The powerful earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria this week have caused widespread destruction and claimed the lives of thousands in the region.

In Syria, people were already living in partially destroyed buildings and tents. A 12-year civil war has destabilized the country, causing a humanitarian and economic crisis that has displaced millions of people – including an estimated 3.6 million refugees who fled to neighbouring Türkiye.

Joan Simalchik

Joan Simalchik, professor emerita in the department of historical studies at U of T Mississauga, says the earthquakes have added a “heavy layer to the embedded tragedy” in the region.

“There is an immediate urgent need to establish emergency hospitals, airlifts, and medical care and restore core services,” Simalchik says.

Organizations and governments around the world have donated millions of dollars and supplies to the devastated areas. The Canadian government has pledged to donate $10 million in aid and will match donations made to the Canadian Red Cross from Feb. 6 to 22.

In a statement earlier this week, Joseph Wong, U of T’s vice-president, international, expressed concern and sympathy for those affected by the disaster, urging members of the U of T community to support each other and to reach out for help if needed.

Beyond ensuring humanitarian aid reaches those affected – a task made more challenging in Syria by the ongoing civil war and the impact of sanctions – Simalchik says mental health services will need to be established to address the traumatic effects of the unfolding catastrophe.

U of T News spoke with Simalchik about the international response so far and the challenges that lie ahead.

How would you describe the scale of the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding following the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria?

Catastrophic. The number of deaths keeps growing with much of the area's infrastructure destroyed. At this moment more than 22,000 people have been confirmed dead.

What are the implications of this disaster, now and over the longer-term, for the millions of people in Syria who have already been displaced because of the decade-long civil war?

Refugees have already been in a prolonged desperate situation. While international aid agencies had been on the ground, funds for housing, health, and schooling were severely limited. The earthquake has exacerbated their conditions and the need is urgent to supplement already scarce resources. There is an immediate, urgent need to establish emergency hospitals, airlifts and medical care, and to restore core services such as food, water, shelter and warm clothing.

Beyond the physical rebuilding that will be required, there will be longer term issues involving family and kinship reunification and support. Importantly, it will be crucial to establish psychosocial services to address the traumatic effects of surviving the disaster.

In addition, the world's countries should set up mechanisms for permanent resettlement of long-term refugees. This disaster has brought them into visibility, but "out-of-sight" is not a solution to displacement.

What has the international response been like so far?

It is still developing but the response from countries, organizations, and individuals has been as strong as typically the case in the immediate aftermath. The critical issue is to keep attention ongoing past the immediate devastation and crisis care. Once the cameras have been packed up, the needs do not disappear with them.

What does long-term recovery for the Syrian people look like following the earthquakes?

Long-term recovery will necessitate finding stable homes and resettlement. Only after uncertain life conditions are remedied, can people begin to address the multiple layers of trauma they have experienced (war, displacement, physical and emotional wounds, and loss of home, culture and community). The earthquakes have added a heavy layer to the embedded tragedy.

For members of the U of T community who may be moved or able to contribute to relief efforts:

The Government of Canada has created a matching program on donations to the Canadian Red Cross until Feb. 22, 2023. Details: Canadian Red Cross

Student groups across U of T's three campuses can post events to the Student Organization Portal, and members of the community can find opportunities to participate on the Events Calendar.

For members of the U of T community in need of support:

Students:

U of T My Student Support Program (My SSP) can be accessed 24/7 by phone or via the My SSP app.

Other mental health resources, programs and supports are available through the student mental health resource page.

Staff and faculty:

Employee and Family Assistance Program (1-800-663-1142)

Lab upgrade allows U of T engineers to design 'resilient cities of the future'

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 17:12:39 +0000

Lab upgrade allows U of T engineers to design 'resilient cities of the future'

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/10/2021 - 12:12

Cutline

With the support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, a new adjustable multi-dimensional (AMD) loading system will soon be added to U of T Engineering’s Structural Testing Facility (image by Myron Zhong)

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Global

Research & Innovation

An upgraded facility at the ��Ƶ’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – unlike any other in the world – will let engineers test next-generation infrastructure designed to be resilient in the face of natural disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes.

With the support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), a suite of new tools and equipment will be housed within U of T Engineering’s existing Structural Testing Facility. It will be used to design everything from elevated highways and high-rise residential buildings to nuclear power plants, including replacements for legacy structures across North America.

“Much of our infrastructure is decades old and needs to be replaced,” says project leader Constantin Christopoulos, a professor in the department of civil and mineral engineering and Canada Research Chair in Seismic Resilience of Infrastructure.

“The scientific and engineering communities, along with governments and the private sector, are becoming increasingly aware of the inherent vulnerability of our infrastructure. We also need to design new structures to address new pressures, such as a rapidly growing Canadian population, and more frequent extreme weather scenarios due to a changing climate.”

The project is one of four at U of T that are being supported by CFI, according to an announcement that was released March 3 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and François-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of innovation, science and industry. The other three U of T projects are headed by: Professor Roberto Abraham in the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science; Professors Jennifer Gommerman and Kullervo Hynynen in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine; and Charles Boone and his colleagues in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.

The centrepiece of the new development at U of T Engineering’s Structural Testing Facility is the world’s first fully movable, adjustable, multidirectional, large-scale and large-capacity loading frame.

“This unique piece of equipment will allow structural elements and structural systems to be tested under more realistic loading conditions,” says Christopoulos. “We’ll be able to better simulate the complex effects of extreme loading events, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes or tsunamis.”

The adjustable, multi-dimensional loading module will be capable of applying up to a total of 2,000 tonnes of force in six translational and rotational directions for specimens of up to eight metres tall and 30 metres long.

The project will also include new state-of-the-art sensing equipment and the redesign of 500 square metres of lab space. Construction is expected to begin in 2022.

Christopoulos will be working with a large team of experts from within and beyond U of T Engineering. Project partners include U of T Engineering faculty members Oh-Sung Kwon, Evan Bentz, Oya Mercan and Jeffrey Packer. The team is also collaborating with a team of structural engineering and large-scale testing experts at other leading North American facilities to develop, commission and use this unique equipment.

Collaborating institutions include:

Western University’s WindEEE and Boundary Layer Wind Tunnels
University of British Columbia
Université de Sherbrooke
Polytechnique Montréal
University of Illinois

Once completed, the new facility will be used for research by 10 professors from U of T and their national and international collaborators. It is also expected that it will allow for dozens of unique graduate student research projects and industry tests every year once it is fully operational.

Together, the teams will be able to carry out a technique known as “distributed hybrid simulations.” This means that full-scale portions of real structures – such as concrete pillars or steel beams – will be tested simultaneously in each of these labs across North America.

By integrating all of these physical tests into a single numerical model, the researchers can use the experimental feedback of each of the large-scale elements to more realistically simulate the response of the entire infrastructure system to extreme loading conditions. The data from the physical experiments will be integrated in real-time with models run using high-performance computers and the UT-SIM integration platform.

“This facility will enhance our capabilities not only here at U of T, and across Canada, but will position Canadian engineers as global leaders in the area of structural resilience” says Christopoulos. “It is a critical step toward designing the resilient cities of the future.”

Fault lines: U of T research could protect cities in active earthquake zones

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:53:49 +0000

Fault lines: U of T research could protect cities in active earthquake zones

noreen.rasbach Tue, 07/23/2019 - 12:53

Cutline

U of T's Jeremy Rimando sets up Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) survey equipment to measure the amount of displacement on the Las Chacras Fault in San Juan, Argentina (photo by Cesar Distante)

Topic

Research & Innovation

U of T Mississauga

A study from the ��Ƶ Mississauga reveals new clues about an earthquake that rocked Argentina’s San Juan province in the 1950s. The results add important data about one of the Earth’s most active thrust zones and could help to protect cities in the region from earthquake damage in the future.

Jeremy Rimando, the lead author of the study and a PhD candidate in the lab of study co-author Lindsay Schoenbohm, an associate professor in the department of chemical and physical sciences. Their study, published in the journal Tectonics, focuses on the La Rinconada Fault in the western central area of Argentina.

“This region is seismically active and is bound by many thrust faults where one block of land moves over top of another,” says Rimando, who has conducted field research at several sites in the area. “It’s an area that experiences frequent earthquakes.”

The 30-kilometre-long La Rinconada Fault line marks a tectonic transition zone where the thin-skinned crust of the Eastern Precordillera meets the thick-skinned crust of Sierras Pampeanas in the Andes mountain range.The area is arid and rocky, with steep gravel-strewn hills and terraces that reveal the displacement of the Earth’s surface as the land shifts and slips along the fault line.

San Juan, with a population of 500,000, lies 15 kilometres to the north in an area bounded by several faults, including La Rinconada. A 1944 earthquake devastated the city and killed 10,000 people. Eight years later, San Juan experienced another severe earthquake with a recorded magnitude of 6.8. Rimando’s data points to the La Rinconada Fault as a potential generator of the second quake.

To determine if La Rinconada might be connected to the 1952 quake, Rimando calculated the slip rate – how fast two sides of the fault are moving relative to one another – which can provide clues about how often an earthquake might occur.

“We looked at features that were displaced by the fault line,” he says. “A low slip rate is usually associated with a long recurrence interval.”

Long recurrence intervals can mean that earthquakes may not happen often, but when they do, they can be big because of the strain that has built up over time. “If the slip rate is moving slowly, it can eventually build up a large amount of strain, resulting in big earthquakes that take place on a less frequent basis,” he says.

“Our data shows that La Rinconada is moving slowly at 0.4 mm per year,” Rimando says. He notes that the La Rinconada slip rate is associated with earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 6.6 to 7.2. “This is within the range of the 1952 earthquake.”

“Further investigation is required to determine the timing and recurrence interval on this fault, but knowing the very specific likely magnitude is helpful for planners,” says Schoenbohm. “Buildings shake at different frequencies depending on the earthquake, so the most likely magnitude is more important to know than the maximum magnitude. Narrowing that range as much as possible is really useful.

He adds that researchers "can’t definitively say that this was the fault, but we have added to possible proof that it could be because of the similarity in magnitude of the 1952 earthquake and the possible earthquake magnitudes that this fault caused. This information could impact building locations, zoning requirements and engineering infrastructure.”

Funding for the study was provided through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant program.

U of T expert on why some earthquakes are so deadly when others are not

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 17:40:10 +0000

U of T expert on why some earthquakes are so deadly when others are not

noreen.rasbach Mon, 10/22/2018 - 13:40

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In this Oct. 10 photo, a man walks past a boat swept ashore by a tsunami in Wani village on the outskirt of Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 28 triggered a tsunami and mudslides (photo by Dita Alangkara/Associated

Topic

Research & Innovation

The Conversation

U of T Mississauga

You feel a jolt. Was that … no, it couldn’t be. Wait, it is an earthquake.

Now the whole house is shaking. What do you do?

The answer depends less on the magnitude of the earthquake than you’d think. What matters more is what country you live in and how close you are to water.

Take, for example, the biggest earthquake you’ve never heard of. It happened on Feb. 27, 2010, off the coast of Chile. It was the sixth largest ever recorded, with a magnitude of 8.8.

It didn’t exactly go unnoticed. It caused three minutes of intense shaking in Chile and Argentina. The tsunami it generated caused damage as far away as Japan.

Yet relatively few people, 550, died in this earthquake, 150 of those in the resulting tsunami, and it hasn’t lingered in the public awareness.

Compare it to what happened in Haiti just a month earlier, on Jan. 12, 2010. That one you definitely remember because it was awful, and you and countless others donated to the rescue and recovery effort.

In this Jan. 14, 2010 photo, a couple looks over hundreds of earthquake victims at the morgue in Port-au-Prince (photo byGregory Bull/Associated Press)

No one knows for sure how many died: 160,000? 220,000? But this earthquake was only a magnitude 7.0. In the world of logarithmic scaling, that means the one in Chile was 500 times more powerful. So why was the Haiti earthquake so devastating?

Blind fault

The classic saying among geologists is that earthquakes don’t kill people – buildings do. Or bridges. Or failing dams. Or fires from ruptured gas lines.

Or a cholera outbreak that follows from the lack of clean drinking water.

Nothing makes a bigger difference in an earthquake’s death toll than infrastructure, especially when population is dense. Chile has a long history of earthquakes. The largest ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5, struck in 1960. It also has the building codes to show for it. Haiti didn’t have the resources to adequately prepare or respond.

Another difference is expectation. The earthquake in Haiti happened on what is called a blind fault, meaning it was buried, so we didn’t know it existed.

The fault in Chile pops all the time. And countries throughout the Pacific now know they can be hit anytime by a tsunami originating from Chile or any other number of locations.

After the devastating earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, generating the Boxing Day tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people, an international effort ramped up deployment of a warning system of buoys in the Indian Ocean.

The unexpected in Sulawesi

So what went so wrong on Sept. 28 in Sulawesi, Indonesia? The magnitude 7.5 quake was large, but not giant. The real killer, and the surprise, was the tsunami. So far, about 2,100 deaths have been reported, but the number continues to rise.

Tsunamis are devastating – inescapable and nearly unsurvivable if you’re in their path. They usually occur by changing the shape of the ocean floor during the earthquake.

But the Sulawesi earthquake didn’t happen under water. Instead, the tsunami may have been a secondary effect – the earthquake triggered an underwater landslide, and the landslide triggered the tsunami.

In this Oct. 11 photo, rescue workers watch as a heavy machine digs through rubble searching for earthquake victims at Balaroa neighborhood in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia (photo by Dita Alangkara/Associated Press)

Would an early warning system have helped? Possibly, but because we weren’t expecting this kind of tsunami, even if a network of buoys had been functional, they wouldn’t have been in the right place because the tsunami was so local.

They also wouldn’t have given locals much warning, as the tsunami followed so quickly on the heels of the earthquake – in this situation the earthquake itself was the best early warning system.

What should you do?

Don’t think we’re immune to large or unexpected earthquakes in Canada. Vancouver is poised for “the big one.” There are occasional rumblings in Quebec and Ontario along ancient tectonic scars –earthquakes along faults like this are the hardest to predict because they occur so rarely.

Learning to accurately predict and prepare for earthquakes is a long game. They’re so seldom that it’s difficult to see the pattern, and therefore difficult to predict the future.

There is promising work on “precursor” earthquakes that give days to minutes of warning. Unfortunately, most of the time the best we can do is make pronouncements about the chance of an earthquake of a certain size occurring in a certain area in the next certain number of years. And that sounds anything but certain.

Scientists are working on extending what we know about past earthquakes beyond recorded human history. This helps. But accurately predicting earthquakes and their impact requires money, time and lots of excruciatingly detailed work.

So what do you do when you feel the jolt of an earthquake? In Chile, dive for cover; your building will probably stay standing. In Haiti, get out in the open. If you’re anywhere near water, like Sulawesi, don’t wait for warning sirens, head for the hills as fast as you can.

Lindsay Schoenbohm is an associate professor of Earth science at the ��Ƶ Mississauga.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

U of T earthquake experts on Mexico's second quake in 12 days

ullahnor — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 20:22:40 +0000

U of T earthquake experts on Mexico's second quake in 12 days

ullahnor Wed, 09/20/2017 - 16:22

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Rescuers continue to search for people in a crumpled office building in Mexico City after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake (photo by Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

More than 200 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake struck Mexico for a second time in less than two weeks.

Rescuers are still scrambling to reach survivors trapped inside toppled buildings, including a primary school in southern Mexico City.

The 7.1-magnitude quake Tuesday is the deadliest earthquake in Mexico in 30 years, occurring on the anniversary of an earthquake in 1985 that killed as many as 10,000 people.

Qinya Liu, an associate professor of physics and Earth sciences at the Faculty of Arts & Science, says Tuesday's earthquake was caused by the “subduction” of the Cocos tectonic plate.

The country sits at the boundary of three pieces of the Earth’s crust, called tectonic plates, which come together in kind of a jigsaw puzzle, with the ocean floor of the Cocos plate forcing its way down, i.e. subducting, beneath the continental edge of the North American plate. Experts say these subduction zones are prone to large earthquakes.

Russell Pysklywec, professor and chair of Earth sciences, says the two earthquakes could be related.

“Quite often one of these earthquakes can spawn another,” he says. “It can induce seismic activity locally, on a similar fault that could be connected.”

He supervised a study last year showing that ancient geologic events have left scars within plates that can also trigger earthquakes. The study helped change the widespread view that only interactions at boundaries between tectonic plates can cause earthquakes. The Mexican earthquakes likely occurred because of intraplate bending of the subducting slab, he says.

Both U of T experts say there's no evidence of a connection to the planet's overall warming, but Liu is worried about sizable aftershocks and the potential eruption of volcanoes in the region. The Popocatépetl volcano burst at the same time as the earthquake on Tuesday.

What caused Tuesday's earthquake?

Qinya Liu: This magnitude-7.1 central Mexico event occurs as a result of the subduction of Cocos plate beneath the North American plate. It did not occur right on the plate boundary but is most likely an intraplate earthquake within the subducting Cocos slab.

Russell Pysklywec: An earthquake occurs when there's release of energy with slip or fracture of rock within the Earth, with the plate motions providing a massive amount of energy. Mexico is adjacent to a plate tectonic boundary. In some ways, the region is primed for this activity because its two plates that are actively colliding. The subducting Pacific plate is going down beneath North America and providing the stresses that are required for this earthquake.

Are the two earthquakes related?

Russell Pysklywec: It wouldn't be surprising if they were connected. Quite often one of these earthquakes can spawn another. It can induce seismic activity locally, on a similar fault that could be connected. But we don't know 100 per cent for sure. Maybe it is complete coincidence that they occurred like that, but probably not because they were kind of similar depths and separated by 650 kilometres. In the grand scheme of things, that's fairly close. So probably they were related. Quite often we'll see aftershocks to an earthquake, and maybe this is one of those types of manifestations.

Qinya Liu: At this moment, no direct evidence has shown that these two events are related. We know that the seismic hazard in several regions of Mexico are quite high, which is mostly due to the subduction of Cocos plate as well as the relative motion of Caribbean plate to the east. The Sept. 7th event is about 650 kilometres to the southeast of this event and closer to the Middle American Trench (another major subduction zone, an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean, stretching from central Mexico to Costa Rica).

See the global seismic hazard map

Prof. Pysklywec, how are these earthquakes similar to findings from the 2016 study?

Russell Pysklywec: They're similar to our study in that it's talking about tectonic activity in what you call an intraplate area. It's not occuring right at the plate boundary or the interfaces between two plates. It's related to the stresses within the plate, deep down. The subducting plate is bending down, and that seemed to cause the earthquake. In that sense, it's interesting because it's a sort of fracture in the intraplate region of the tectonic plate.

The scars we discuss in our paper are within the interior of a tectonic plate in an intraplate region, and that's what the United States Geological Survey was saying about these Mexican earthquakes as well. On the other hand, the Mexican events are close to the plate boundary. The plate motion primes these things for activity, and that's probably what happened here. The plate motion provides the stresses involved that cause the plate bending.

In general, it helps our understanding of how tectonic activity can occur within a plate. In the case of Mexico, the scars and fractures are young. In our study, those were old, ancient scars.

People are really worried about instability on the planet and climate change. There's hurricanes and earthquakes seemingly happening at once. Is this earthquake related in any way to climate change, or the severity of the hurricanes in the region?

Qinya Liu: There is no robust evidence that links earthquakes directly to atmopheric processes. Earthquakes occur deep inside the Earth – this event is about 51 kilometres deep – as a result of accumulated strain on faults over tens to hundreds of years.

Russell Pysklywec: No. It's hard to say for sure. As far as we know, no. We don't seem to have any reason to think there's anthropogenic forcings on the seismic cycle.

Are there concerns about aftershocks?

Qinya Liu: Many aftershocks will ensue, even with magnitudes around 5.

Also, central Mexico has a chain of volcanoes associated with the subduction of Cocos plate, eruptions of volcanoes close to the epicentre may be expected due to the strong shaking from this earthquake, as have just been reported at the nearby Popocatépetl volcano.

U of T partners with Indian researchers to develop safer, earthquake resistant buildings

ullahnor — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:05:51 +0000

U of T partners with Indian researchers to develop safer, earthquake resistant buildings

ullahnor Mon, 02/27/2017 - 10:05

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Schematics of two reinforced concrete buildings designed according to current Indian standards. A research collaboration between U of T and IIT Bombay hopes to develop buildings that can withstand earthquakes (image by IIT Bombay/Farbod Pakpour)

Tyler Irving

Author legacy

Tyler Irving

Topic

Breaking Research

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Buildings

Concrete

Earthquakes

Two new collaborations between researchers at U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) hopes to improve the safety, resilience and sustainability of buildings in both countries.

The two projects are:

India-Canada Initiative for Resilient Global Urban Shelter – A partnership between U of T's Professor Constantin Christopoulos and IIT Bombay's Professor Ravi Sinha, this project focuses on low-cost seismic isolation platforms to help buildings withstand earthquakes.
Smart Sensor Deployment in Buildings: Evacuation Planning and Energy Management - Led jointly by U of T's Professor Mark Fox and IIT's Professor Krithi Ramamritham, this project leverages a network of sensors within buildings to optimize energy use and emergency evacuation plans.

Both projects recently received funding from IC-IMPACTS, a Canadian Network Centre of Excellence that brings communities together with academia, industry and government to develop solutions to key challenges in both India and Canada.

These projects reflect the goals of India’s Smart Cities Mission, a major urban renewal and retrofitting program taking place in more than one hundred cities across the subcontinent.

“Where there is mass development, there is a lot of opportunity to implement new technologies,” says Christopoulos.

The Structural Engineering Laboratory at U of T contains advanced equipment to test prototypes of building components, including a proposed low-cost seismic isolation platform for mass implementation in India (photo by Farbod Pakpour)

Resilient urban infrastructure

Christopoulos says that the earthquakes that rocked Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2010 and 2011 killed far fewer people than the catastrophic January 2010 quake off the coast of Haiti, and that's because of superior building codes and construction regulations in New Zealand, designed to save lives. Yet imposing, implementing and enforcing those regulations can be difficult in developing countries.

“To have a major impact on the entire ecosystem – manufacturers of materials, engineers, local contractors, inspectors – takes tremendous effort and a lot of time,” says Christopoulos.

While modern construction ensured that most of Christchurch’s buildings did not fall, many were still severely damaged.

“Eighty per cent of the taller buildings in their business district had to be demolished,” says Christopoulos. “They are predicting that it will take more than a decade to recover.”

Christopoulos and his team study how to protect buildings from this kind of damage by isolating the structure from the ground. The method, called seismic isolation, involves introducing a flexible layer such as ball bearings or specially designed sliders, under or within the building.

“When the earthquake occurs, the building doesn’t really feel it,” says Christopoulos.

Currently, seismic isolation is costly and tends to be implemented in only high-end buildings, such as Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, or those that house essential services such as hospitals. Now, Christopoulos aims to design a simple, low-cost isolation platform for ordinary buildings that could be adopted on a massive scale in developing countries like India. His team is collaborating with Sinha at IIT Bombay to create computer models that could test this type of intervention using data from real Indian buildings.

“The idea is not to change the entire construction ecosystem but to have only one additional, highly engineered interface that could be checked and controlled,” says Christopoulos.

For example, certain types of commercially available plastic, laid down under a concrete column, might provide the sliding capacity to absorb the earthquake energy while protecting the building sitting on top of it.

Once the best materials are identified, they will be incorporated into prototypes and tested in full-scale and in real time in the Structural Engineering Laboratory at U of T Engineering. The two teams will then work together on a mass implementation plan.

“Here in Canada, our buildings are only being replaced at an incremental rate,” says Christopoulos. “By pairing with a country like India, where there is mass development, we have a chance to create lots of buildings with significantly more resilience than our own. In the long run, we will be looking at re-importing the technology for mass implementation back to Canada.”

Energy conservation? Fire? There’s an app for that

Air conditioning is expensive, especially as most rooms are unoccupied for much of the day. Fox and Ramamritham want to create a more intelligent system to better match energy consumption to specific demand in individual rooms.

Ramamritham and his team have equipped a building on the IIT Bombay campus with an array of sensors that detect the infrared light given off by hot objects. Not only do these devices measure the average temperature of the room, they can also detect the presence of people.

Ramamritham will provide the sensor data to Fox and his team, who will use it to build a piece of software known as a semantic model.

“We need to be able to represent the building, the sensors, the pathways and the state of all of these components,” says Fox.

The model is run on a central server, and users can interact with using external devices such as smartphone apps. The model can use past behaviour to make intelligent predictions about future behaviour. For example, if someone arrives early each morning, the app would notice and cool their office ahead of their arrival. Likewise, if a room is never used on Fridays, the app could shut off the air conditioning, saving valuable energy.

This type of adaptive, predictive system would also be useful in the event of a fire or other emergency.

“Evacuation maps already exist, but they don’t tell you if an exit is blocked,” says Fox. “A smartphone app, connected to our semantic model, could provide real-time information.”

By providing users with the most up-to-date escape routes, the app could prevent damage and save lives.