Earthquake protection of masonry buildings using fibre reinforced polymer strengthening

保险业的工作在国内和国际上都强调了这项研究的重要性，保险业报告说，澳大利亚任何一个首都城市的中等地震造成的经济风险约为数十亿美元（Blong， 1993年）。例如，悉尼的“设计级”地震预计仅在国内建筑中就会造成超过100亿美元的损失和5000多人死亡。这种破坏大多与未加固的砖石结构有关，比如低层公寓楼。对整个建筑环境造成的损害（包括业务中断成本）很可能会高出一个数量级。

The importance of this research is highlighted, both nationally and internationally, by the work of the insurance industry which reported that the economic risk posed by a moderate earthquake in any of the capital cities in Australia is of the order of billions of dollars (Blong, 1993). For example, a 'design magnitude' earthquake in Sydney is predicted to cause, just in domestic construction, over $10 billion damage and more than 5000 deaths. Most of this damage would be associated with unreinforced masonry construction such as low-rise apartment buildings. The damage bill for the entire built environment (with business interruption costs) could easily be an order of magnitude greater.