ICLR publishes studies on windstorm, earthquake risk

The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) this month published research studies on both windstorm and earthquake events.The first study, by Alan Davenport, looks at the relationship between quake magnitude, epicentral distance and shock amplitude. The study assesses the application on this relationship to seismic zoning (seismic zones being areas of earthquake activity likely sharing a common cause).The second paper concerns testing of a residential gable-roofed house model against the destructive force of wind, conducted by B. Visscher, G.A. Kopp and P.J. Vickery. The team tested a 1:20 scale model in the “Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory” of the University of Western Ontario to understand the impact of wind on failure of the roof and roof elements.Both studies can be accessed at www.iclr.org.