Helping Safeguard Veterans Affairs’ Hospital Buildings by Advanced Earthquake Monitoring

Summary

In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the National Strong Motion Project of the U.S. Geological Survey has recently installed sophisticated seismic systems that will monitor the structural integrity of hospital buildings during earthquake shaking. The new systems have been installed at more than 20 VA medical campuses across the country. These monitoring systems, which combine sensitive accelerometers and real-time computer calculations, are capable of determining the structural health of each structure rapidly after an event, helping to ensure the safety of patients and staff.

Also of Interest

USGS Fact Sheet 2012–3028, Real-Time Seismic Monitoring of Instrumented Hospital Buildings, by Erol Kalkan, Jon Peter B. Fletcher, William S. Leith, Jill McCarthy, and Krishna Banga

First posted July 17, 2012