U.S. Structural Engineers Report on China Earthquake Devastation

SICHUAN, China, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Structural engineers from Miyamoto International and Global Risk Miyamoto (GRM), dispatched to China to assess damage caused by last Monday's M7.9 earthquake, are reporting on their findings. Observations and data identifying significant causes to structural failures and successes are being posted daily on http://www.miyamotointernational.com/.

The reconnaissance team arrived in China to overwhelming devastation. In this excerpt, Kit Miyamoto writes, "We witnessed a pile of rubble which was Juyuan Middle School and housed 1,000 students. Seven-hundred kids died here and 20 are still missing. The collapsed building is constructed of non-ductile cast-in-place concrete columns and beams, and precasted concrete floor planks. This school was built in 1996; which is relatively modern. However, the non-ductile detailing of concrete elements and unreinforced masonry turned out to be killers."

Thus far, this earthquake is being blamed for 50,000 deaths, 245,000 injured, 4.8 million refugees and economic losses exceeding $10 billion USD. As the team continues to travel throughout the affected region and gather vital data, new postings and photos will be uploaded to the site.

Miyamoto International provides structural, earthquake and wind engineering services related to the design and strengthening of buildings. Projects sectors include: seismic evaluation and retrofit, education, commercial, civic, corporate, healthcare, and infrastructure. With five offices in California, one in the Portland-Vancouver Area and one in Tokyo, Japan, Miyamoto International is one of the largest and fastest growing structural engineering firms.

Global Risk Miyamoto (GRM) is a joint venture formed by Global Risk Consultants, the worldwide leader in unbundled property loss control, and Miyamoto International, one of the largest structural engineering firms in California. The company was formed specifically to provide the risk management community with accurately quantified site-specific risk identification and loss expectancies resulting from natural hazard perils such as earthquakes, windstorms, hurricanes, typhoons, and floods.

For more information contact:

Kit Miyamoto Tom Chan
Miyamoto International, Inc. Global Risk Miyamoto, LLC.
(916) 373-1995 (925) 284-3700 x111
http://www.miyamotointernational.com/
First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Miyamoto International, Inc.

CONTACT: Kit Miyamoto of Miyamoto International, Inc., +1-916-373-1995;
or Tom Chan of Global Risk Miyamoto, LLC., +1-925-284-3700, ext, 111

Web site: http://www.miyamotointernational.com/
http://www.grmcat.com/

2008-05-19 22:36:04 0365796 PRNEWSWIRE