Case Histories of Geotechnical Engineering Damage From the 2016 Mw 6.0, Mw 6.2, and Mw 7.0 Kumamoto Earthquakes

Abstract eng:
The 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes are a series of events that began with an earthquake of moment magnitude 6.2 on the Hinagu Fault at 21:26 JST on April 14, 2016, at an epicentral depth of about 11 km. This event was followed by a larger moment magnitude 7.0 event on the Futagawa Fault, which struck at 01:25 JST on April 16, 2016 beneath Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu, Japan, at an epicentral depth of about 10 km. These events are the strongest earthquakes recorded in Kyushu during the modern instrumental era. The earthquake resulted in substantial damage to infrastructure, buildings, cultural heritage of Kumamoto castle, roads and highways, slopes, and river embankments due to earthquakeinduced landsliding and debris flows. Surface fault rupture produced offset and damage to roads, buildings, river levees, an agricultural dam. Surprisingly, given the extremely intense earthquake motions, liquefaction-induced damage was mostly limited to a few districts of Kumamoto City and in the port areas, indicating that either the volcanic soils were largely unsusceptible to liquefaction or the presence of fines reduced the surficial manifestation of liquefaction and its effects, a significant finding from this event. The primary objective of this reconnaissance effort was the identification of important case histories for future investigations that help develop methodologies to mitigate damage in future earthquakes. Important individual case histories identified by the study are [1] fault rupture through the Oh-Kirihata Dam; [2] subsidence in the Aso Caldera Depression Zone; [3] fault rupture through the Shimojin-Cho River Canal; [4] and the surprising paucity of liquefaction and its effects. .

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