Title: Safe hubs during earthquakes and emergency events

Authors: Hesham Salim Al-Rawe; Ali Jihad Hamad

Addresses: Department of Building and Construction, Engineering Technical College of Mosul, Northern Technical University, Mosul, Iraq ' Construction Materials Technology Engineering Department, Engineering Technical College of Mosul, Northern Technical University, Mosul, Iraq

Abstract: In circumstances of disasters like earthquakes, acts of war, etc., that may threaten the lives of people out on the streets of crowded cities around the world, 'Safe Hubs' aims to help these people as much as possible during panic events. In this way, we are able to protect and transfer them through underground tunnels into open areas outside the city's zone. The number and size of the tunnels depends on the population number and availability of underground spaces for each city. Cities like Tokyo, Los Angeles, Jakarta, and many others around the world have high-rise buildings and skyscrapers as well as remarkable ways of facing natural disasters like earthquakes. The city of Melbourne in Australia will be used in this study to implement the project. This research highlights the innovative design of 'safe hubs' as one of the effective solutions to save as many lives as possible in the crowded cities.

Keywords: safe hubs; underground structures; earthquakes; emergency events; Melbourne City; Australia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEAM.2021.120484

International Journal of the Built Environment and Asset Management, 2021 Vol.2 No.2, pp.124 - 131

Received: 07 Jun 2021
Accepted: 12 Aug 2021
Published online: 21 Jan 2022 *

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