EARTHQUAKE PROTECTION

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1931, Page 9

EARTHQUAKE PROTECTION

ACTIVE STUDY NECESSARY. SCIENTIST AND ENGINEER. ‘‘Nothing is gained by shutting uor eyes to the fact that New Zealand is, relatively, a seismically active country,” stated Dr. M. R. F. Barnett, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, in an address to the Canterbury College Scientific Society on “Seismology and the Hawke’s Bay Earthquake.” ( At the moment, stated the lecturer, public opinion was fully alive to'the fact of New Zealand’s earthquake activity, but it was curious how soon the average man became apathetic. It was as welT to stress the importance of earthquake investigation while the - public mind was in a receptive state. While earthquakes could not be prevented, we should obviously take all possible steps <tp mitigate the disastrous results. Both domestically and from an international point of view, an active study was an obligation for.the sake of reducing 'the loss of life and property from future-, disasters. Tho university, as well as -the public, was to some extent worthy of criticism, for its apathy in the) matter. It was also stated, with only partial truth, that the work in seismology carried out by the Dominion Obesrvatory in Welling* ton and by-the Magnetic Observatory in Christchurch was too academic. Their investigation was, indeed, fundamental and essential; it helped to determine what parts of the country were most liable to earthquakes. But it was even more important to learn how to construct our buildings and to organise our services so that the resulting loss of life and property might be reduced to a minimum. -What was wanted was a much closer liaison between the pure seismologist and the structural engineer, together with a continuous public interest in the -subject. ' : . . Dr. Barnett pointed out that since the occurrence of destructive earthquakes in closely populated areas was, fortunately, rare, the engineer could not obtain sufficient information as to the movements of the ground in the most violently disturbed area. Nevertheless, there was no need to wait for this before applying himse.- to the practical and theoretical prbblehis involved in the design of structures to withstand periodic horizontal forces. The lecturer suggested. that the New Zealand University. .should include .j a short course of seismology, as part of both physics and engineering. J . Dr. Barnett then explained the causes of earthquakes, and stated that they originated mostly along certain main lines of instability on the earths crust. These main fault regions 'were the western-mountains of America, the Mediterranean and Himalayan mountain system, the East Indies, and . the western , islands of the Pacific, which last j-egion included New Zealand, It seemed fairly certain that earthquakes were more qommdn generally m winter than in summer. There were apparently regular periods of world activity. Forecasting of earthquakes, however, seemed not to be feasible with tile present amount of knowledge. While it was possible to gauge . the probability of earthquake’ activity m a very-general way, yet it was improbable that forecasts could be made with sufficient precision and accuracy. Ho that forecasters should publish 0 regularly,' in advance, hat of their predictions, giving the locality, date, and probable intensity of earthquakes. When sueh. lists were at all accurate over some years, it would be time to give more attention to the claims of forecasters. Concluding Dr. Barnett suggested that a more extensive campaign of investigation was necessary. There was room' for much improvement in seismographs, and other recording instruments. If a levy on each new building in New Zealand of one-tenth per cent., were made, about £lO,OOO per year would be brought in. This would be a oood investment as a protection of New Zealand's 10 millions worth of new buildings each year.