Abstract

ACI Committee 133, Disaster Reconnaissance, was conceived in the aftermath of the 2010 Chilean Earthquake, an event that affected thousands of structures. That event caused extensive damage to an estimated 50 to 100 mid-rise and high-rise reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, including seven that were damaged beyond repair.1-3 Although ACI has had a strong history of publishing assessments of disasters (refer to textbox: Historical Disasters Examined in ACI Publications), the Institute had no formal mechanism in place to deploy a team to investigate and report on critical lessons to its technical committees and membership. Furthermore, the broadening international reach of the ACI 318 Building Code, which has been adopted or referenced in the national code of more than 30 countries, including Chile,4 highlighted the need for ACI liaisons to be on the ground immediately after a disaster to serve as a technical resource to local engineers. Recognizing these needs, former ACI Committee 318 Chair Jack Moehle consulted with former ACI Presidents José Izquierdo-Encarnación and Luis García about the formation of a committee with a disaster reconnaissance directive. In October 2012, a proposal was submitted to the ACI Board of Direction to establish and fund a new committee with the primary objectives of:

  • Providing a mechanism for evaluating the application of ACI documents internationally; and
  • Disseminating deployment findings to ACI technical committees and through ACI publications.5 To date, the Chairs of the resulting committee, ACI

Committee 133, have included Jack Moehle, Ken Elwood, Michael Kreger, and Santiago Pujol. This committee has actively engaged a diverse group of practitioners and researchers.

Disciplines

Architectural Engineering

Number of Pages

9

Publisher statement

Courtesy of the American Concrete Institute, www.concrete.org

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URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/aen_fac/143