Performance of timber structures during the Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake of 17 January 1995

The Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake that struck the Kobe area of Japan on January 17, 1995, caused extensive damage to wooden housing structures, resulting in a large loss of life. As part of the Canadian Association for Earthquake Engineering reconnaissance team, the authors visited the disaster area a week after the earthquake to gain insight into the performance of timber structures. This paper reports their findings and discusses the reasons for …