Shake it

Science World, April 16, 2007 by Mona Chiang

How well can a typical wooden-frame house withstand a major earthquake? To find out, scientists built a full-scale townhouse--complete with furniture--and shook it.

Inside their lab at the State University at Buffalo in New York, engineers built the house on top of "shake tables." These earthquake simulators produced a "quake" measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale--a magnitude similar to a quake that rocked Northridge, California, in 1994 and killed 57 people.

The find: The building's interior walls and stucco exterior helped keep the house's frame from collapsing. But the structure's foundation cracked, making the building hazardous, says Andre Filiatrault, who headed the study. He hopes the results will help engineers build sturdier structures.

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