建物の地震に対する安心設計

摘要

建物の耐震性能についての議論は，専門家の中だけに留めることなく広く社会一般に開かれていくべきである．そのためには，設計者は高度かつ専門的な工学技術に基づく建物の耐震性能について，社会一般の人々にわかりやすく説明する努力を怠ってはならない．こうした考えのもと，本稿では建物の耐震性能をできるだけわかりやい表現で示す試みを紹介した．社会一般の人々が建物の耐震性能を正しく理解し地震の際にも安心を得られるよう．筆者らの試みが少しでも役に立てば幸いである．%The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake affected people in Tokyo area nearly 400 km away from the epicenter. Although no structural damage was observed in most buildings, many people were excessively frightened by the largest and longest shaking ever experienced. This experience has increased the desire in people to understand the seismic performance of the buildings. Until now, seismic safety of buildings has been evaluated by technical indices, which are highly specialized only understood by structural engineers. In an effort to convey building response in a way that does not require knowledge of structural engineering, the authors propose some new evaluation methods.