Expert Q&A: why did so many buildings collapse in Venezuela’s double earthquake?

By Raffaele De Risi, Associate Professor in Civil Engineering, School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, University of Bristol

More than 500 people have been killed in Venezuela following powerful back-to-back earthquakes, with many more injured. Rescue teams have also been trying to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings.

Here, Raffaele De Risi, associate professor in civil engineering at the University of Bristol, answered our questions about the role building design may have played in the disaster.

Venezuela is in an active seismic zone. Why do you think there have been so many devastating building collapses?

Indeed, Venezuela is a seismically…

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