Earthquakes Part II - Analyze the pattern of building damage

Objective: Determine the pattern of building damage using building tagging data collected in the aftermath of the Northridge Earthquake. Then compare the damage pattern to local geologic conditions and scientific measurements of ground shaking.

Back Ground: Immediately after the Northridge earthquake, Southern Californians raced to their televisions to find out where the earthquake occurred and how strong it was. From this information, most people assumed that there must be heavy damage in the Northridge area. But magnitude and epicentral location do not say much about the kinds of damage that might be found some distance from the epicenter. Damage patterns away from the epicentral region depend on a variety of factors including the location of the ruptured fault plane with respect to the ground surface, distance from the earthquake, local rock and soil conditions, and building construction

Lab Details
1. Open Northridge1.mxd
2. Turned on Spatial Analyst
3. Turned on Building Status then
4. Opened Building properties dialog box and Change building status tag symbology to:

     1. Red = Unsafe = Red color
     2. Yel = Limited Entry = Yellow color
     3. Grn = Safe = Green color
     4. Unk = Insufficient Data = Black

5) Select by Attribute to select Red and Yel from Building Status Tag
6) Chose two different ways to select the Tags.

     1. First was manual by opening the properties and manually selecting them. Then saved that as Manual_output.mxd.
     2. Then in a side-by-side operation I opened the original file and wrote a query in the properties dialog box that would show only red and yellow tagged buildings. (‘Tag’ = “red” OR ‘Tag’ = “yel”). This was more effective time wise and it provided a validation to the script.

7. I switched to the map view, added all the basic map elements
8. Saved this as a map.