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Educational Reconnaissance of the Area Affected by the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake—Three Years Later

Findings from a reconnaissance effort to the area affected by the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan are reported in this paper. The reconnaissance team comprised eight graduate students from the three U.S. earthquake engineering research centers (MAE, MCEER, and PEER). The mission provided an opportunity to assess, three years later, the response of the engineering community to this major earthquake that caused extensive loss of life and property. This educational reconnaissance effort was hosted by Taiwan's National Center for Research in Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in May 2002. Researchers from NCREE first presented extensive information on the observed failures, the repairs and reconstruction, as well as the lessons learned and changes in future engineering practice before an intensive site visit. In this paper, observations on the performance/repair/retrofit and reconstruction of residential buildings and bridges are reported. Although most bridge structures were retrofitted or rebuilt with state-of-the-art engineered solutions, most low-rise mixed commercial-residential buildings were retrofitted with non-engineered techniques often conceived and carried out by local contractors. Furthermore, the structural configuration of the mixed commercial-residential building that suffered the most serious damage is still rather commonly applied in Taiwan. The organization and the educational value of this reconnaissance experience are also discussed.