Research Papers
Damage ratios for houses in the MM10 zone of the magnitude 7.8 Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, earthquake of 1931
DJ Dowrick, D Rhoades, J Babor, RD Beetham - IGNS
his paper describes the analysis of a large data base of actual costs of damage to houses in Napier in the magnitude Ms = 7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931. This event occurred prior to the introduction of any earthquake design regulations in New Zealand.
The town of Napier was sited over the source of this event, and was subjected to MM10 intensity. Mean values and statistical distributions of damage ratios have been estimated for houses built on rock, on firm beach deposits, and on soft recent alluvium.
This is the first time world-wide that a fully representative quantification of damage has been made for the MM10 zone of an earthquake, for any class of construction, with or without quantification of microzoning effects. This study examines the damage to housing due to ground shaking and ground damage, and excludes the effects of earthquake-induced fires.