Entry Date:
April 13, 2000

e-quake Earthquake Impact Simulator

Principal Investigator Franz-Josef Ulm


e-quake is a prototype information system for planning, design and response management of urban infrastructure subjected to extreme events. Earthquake impact simulation will be the first application area. e-quake provides a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between components of a complex dynamic urban infrastructure system and by generating digital models of urban infrastructure and simulates a city's response to an earthquake. e-quake is the framework that integrates information management, advanced modeling of physical systems and decision making by managing the information from multiple heterogeneous data sources (e.g. geographical data, geological data, material data, social data, human-physical interaction data). e-quake's prototype development will generate the core technology for future decision making: Management of a distributed database system with heterogeneous data (GIS and different CAD data); Mechanical Analysis of urban environments subjected to catastrophic events; Unique visualization possibilities: the e-quake user walks through a virtually damaged city; Communication power: integrated chat room technology permits virtual expert meetings and virtual site visits; Integrated Loss Estimation Facilities.