Engineering Catastrophes

This new edition of a well received and popular book contains a general update of historical data, more material concerning road and rail accidents and, most importantly, a new chapter on the human factor. The author provides a broad survey of the accidents to which engineering structures ad vehicles may be subject. Historical records are analysed to determine how loss and fatality rates vary with time and these results are displayed in numerous graphs and tables. Notable catastrophes such as the sinking of the 'Titanic' and the 'Estonia' ferry disaster are described. Natural diasters are considered generally, with more detail in this edition on earth-quake resistant buildings.