Quake Testimony
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“Ban on High-Rise Construction Near Major Faults Urged” (May 9) exaggerated our testimony during a meeting of the California Seismic Safety Commission. The topic was the unusually large and rapid ground displacements that can be produced by a big earthquake at certain locations close the rupturing fault.
One of us (Heaton) questioned the wisdom of constructing flexible buildings close to major faults, since flexible structures are more vulnerable to such ground motions than are stiff, strong ones. This was reported as a call for a moratorium on all new high- rise construction close to major earthquake faults. The other of us (Hall) replied to a query about base-isolated buildings by saying that isolation is not an effective protection measure for this same type of unusally large ground motion. This was reported as a call for a policy of avoiding the use of seismic base isolation in downtown Los Angeles.
THOMAS H. HEATON, Professor Engineering Seismology
JOHN F. HALL, Professor Civil Engineering Caltech
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