HOW DOES A SEISM AFFECT A BUILDING?

Earthquakes or earthquakes are called earthquakes or abrupt earth movements produced in the earth's crust as a consequence of the sudden release of energy inside the Earth or plate tectonics. This energy is transmitted to the surface in the form of seismic waves that propagate in all directions. The point at which the earthquake originates is called a focus or hypocenter; This point can be located at a maximum of about 700 km inland. The epicenter is the point of the earth's surface closest to the focus of the earthquake.

Origins of an earthquake:
They usually occur at the end of a cycle called seismic cycle, which is the period of time during which deformation builds up inside the Earth that will later be released suddenly. This release corresponds to the earthquake, after which, the deformation begins to accumulate again.

Types of earthquakes:
• Volcanic: directly related to volcanic eruptions. They are of low intensity and are no longer perceived at a distance from the volcano.
• Tectonics: originated by adjustments in the lithosphere. The hypocenter is usually located 10 or 25 kilometers deep, although some cases can be detected depths of up to 70 kilometers and may also be more superficial.
• Baptism: its origin is not entirely clear, characterized because the hypocenter is located at enormous depths (300 to 700 kilometers), outside the limits of the lithosphere. They may be due to critical phase transitions in which seductive materials are abruptly transformed, when a certain pressure value is reached, in other more compact ones.

An earthquake does not damage buildings by impact as would a demolition team, basically it damages the inertial force that is generated from the vibration of the building mass. The shape and dimensions of the building as well as its mass affect the building.
The weight of the buildings is what causes the collapse, before an earthquake the buildings fall vertically, it is rare that they fall to the sides. The lateral forces tend to bend and break the columns and walls, the action of gravity on the weakened structure causes collapse.

The shape of the buildings can also influence the response of these to an earthquake, a building is a set of parts linked together, each one is subject to horizontal and vertical "efforts" to be united with the rest of the structure.
In each building the movement of the soil affects differently, the height will influence with the force to which the building will be subjected. The proportion is one of the most important characteristics for each building, for tall buildings the height by slenderness will be limited to 4 by 1.

Buildings that are too slender when subjected to the force of an earthquake tend to fall sideways, they present several complications when evaluating the forces to which the columns found in the perimeter of the building will be subject.