What is Earthquake engineering?
[[File:2010 Chile earthquake - Building destroyed in Concepción.jpg|thumb|right|270px|[[Concepción]] building Alto Río which overturned and collapsed at [[February 2010 Chile earthquake]].]] '''Earthquake engineering''' is the study of the behavior of [[architecture|building structures]] subject to [[earthquake]] impacts. It is a [[subset]] of [[civil engineering]]. ==Objectives of the earthquake engineering== The main goals of earthquake engineering are: * Understand what happens between buildings and the ground. * Understand what strong earthquakes or [[tsunami]]s might do to building structures. * [[Seismic design|Design]], build and maintain structures to last during an earthquake while following [[building code]]s.<ref name=SeismicDesignCodes>{{cite book|title= Seismic Design Codes and Procedures|author=Berg, Glen V.|date=1983|publisher=[[Earthquake Engineering Research Institute|EERI]]|isbn=978-0-943198-25-5}}</ref> [[File:18-story model on earthquake protectors.jpg|thumb|right|18-story model on [[base isolation|base isolators]] ready for testing at a [[shake-table]].]] ==Tools== A properly engineered structure does not necessarily have to be extremely strong or expensive. The most powerful and affordable tools of earthquake engineering are [[vibration control]] technologies and, in particular, [[base isolation]]. To test [[seismic performance]] of a [[building|building structure]] with experiments, it may be put on a [[shake-table]] that behaves like the [[earthquakes|earth shaking]]. The earliest shake-table experiments were performed more than a century ago. <ref name=SeismicExperiments>{{cite book|title= Seismic Experiments on the Fracturing and Overturning of Columns|author=Omori, F.|date=1900|publisher=Publ. Earthquake Invest. Comm. In Foreign Languages, N.4, Tokyo}}</ref> == Tsunami preparedness and protection== {{main|Tsunami}} '''Tsunami''' or a [[chain]] of fast moving [[wave]]s in the [[ocean]] caused, mostly, by powerful [[earthquake]]s is a very serious challenge for people's safety and fo