NEHRP Clearinghouse
- Title
- Architectural and Urban Design Lessons from the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake: The Mexican Perspective.
- File
- PB89172647.pdf
- Author(s)
- Geis, D. E.; Smith, K. N.
- Source
- National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. Directorate for Engineering., June 1988, 413 p.
- Abstract
- On September 19 and 20, 1985, two earthquakes registering 8.1 and 7.5, respectively, on the Richter scale struck the central and southwest regions of Mexico. The quakes offered the United States and Mexican building communities a revealing if deadly natural experiment. In an effort to learn in depth from the experience in Mexico City, the American Institute of Architects and the Colegio de Arquitectos de Mexico/Sociedad de Arquitectos Mexicanos (CAM/SAM) formed a cooperative program in 1985 to investigate the Mexican quakes. The goal of the resulting publication is to help architects, urban designers, and other building professionals to better understand and apply the lessons learned and, in some cases, relearned from the experiences of the 1985 earthquakes.
- Keywords
- Lesson learned; Damage assessment; Mexico City (Mexico); Photographs; Urban planning; Architecture; Construction; Structural design; Buildings; Earthquakes