2022 Taiwan Earthquakes Reconnaissance Briefing

On September 18th, 2022, at 2:44 pm local time, a moment magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 42.7 km north of Taitung City, Taiwan. The earthquake followed a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in the same area the previous day. The M6.9 earthquake caused both geotechnical failures and damage to infrastructure, mainly bridges, railroads, and highways. Damage to buildings was primarily concentrated on older non-ductile structures, as well as non-structural component damage. At least one building collapsed and hundreds more suffered some damage. The earthquake resulted in at least one death and 171 injuries.
The earthquake highlighted the vulnerabilities of older non-ductile concrete buildings in seismic regions, concrete bridges, and non-structural building components during an earthquake. This webinar will provide an overview of the event, including the earthquake seismology, emergency management, and geotechnical and structural engineering impacts.
Moderator
Dr. Gilberto Mosqueda is a Professor of Engineering and Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California at San Diego.
Speakers
Dr. Erica Fischer is an Assistant Professor and the John and Jean Loosley Faculty Fellow in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University. She is the co-chair of the Virtual Earthquake Reconnaissance Team (VERT).
Dr. J. Bruce H. Shyu is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences at National Taiwan University, focusing on earthquake geology, tectonic geomorphology, and neotectonics.
Dr. Wei-sen Li is the Secretary General of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction in Taiwan. He holds a doctorate in civil engineering.
Dr. Ben Mason is an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University and a research civil engineer at the United States Geological Survey’s Geologic Hazards Science Center. He is a member of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association.
Dr. Chung-Che Chou is the Director-General of the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan and the President of Chinese Taiwan Society for Earthquake Engineering.