Definitions
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Contents and furnishings - These are the items you bring to your place of business that are typically not part of the building as constructed. Because you own them, you can control any risks they might pose. Contents and furnishings include office furniture, shelving, file cabinets, decoration, and equipment. Contents and furnishings that are heavy, fragile, loosely connected to walls or ceilings (including items stored loosely on shelves), or unstable (such as tall narrow cabinets) tend to pose earthquake risks. Gas-fired equipment, propane cylinders, and other hazardous materials also deserve special attention. Externality - A condition outside your attention or control. QuakeSmart uses the term externality to mean a condition that could have an effect on your business but can not easily be addressed by typical mitigation techniques. For example, loss of utility service, damage to roads and bridges, damage to buildings adjacent to yours, or even losses felt by your employees or customers might all affect your ability to recover normal operations. Mitigation - Mitigation is the effort to reduce the risk of losses due to certain events, usually through physical alterations to vulnerable objects such as structures, nonstructural building components, and building contents and furnishings. Mitigation can reduce direct losses by preventing or limiting damage and can reduce indirect losses by shortening your recovery time. Nonstructural components - These are the permanent parts of a building other than the structural elements, such as ceilings, partitions, doors and windows, boilers and other mechanical equipment, piping and ductwork, etc. Because nonstructural components are part of the building, they are different from the contents and furnishings that you bring to your workspace. Recovery - The process of resuming normal operations after the earthquake, including clean-up, repair, and replacement of damaged items, but also including, as needed, re-establishing disrupted relationships with suppliers, clients, customers, etc. The purpose of mitigation is to make recovery faster, easier, and less costly. Rehabilitation - The process of improving the resistance of structures, nonstructural components, or contents and furnishings to earthquakes. Also called retrofit. Response - The activities that immediately follow an earthquake, preceding recovery, and including search and rescue, first aid, and initial damage assessment. Retrofit - See Rehabilitation. |
