Earthquake
engineering is not only for the elite but for everyone. The consequences of not
abiding by the building code will never differentiate engineers or ordinary
people. Understanding the earthquake’s impact only needs common sense, but many
people intentionally ignore it since the occurrence is rare. The good news is that
for more than four decades, the sophisticated earthquake engineering code
gradually translated into guidance and regulation. The engineered and non-engineering
buildings have the direction to design and build with the help of various guidance
available. Building Code enforcement is embedded in
the building permit when people want to build their houses or other buildings.
Then, why
are so much devastation due to earthquakes in many countries? For instance,
from 1998-2017, 747,234 deaths and USD 661 billion loss were recorded
worldwide due to earthquakes[i].
As people know that earthquakes are unpredictable, many questions exist
regarding whether the risk can be minimized. Following the Padang, Indonesia earthquake
(2009) and the Haiti earthquake (2011), the campaign on “Earthquakes don’t kill
people, collapsed buildings do” was started. This initiative is to put enforcing
the building codes and standards more seriously, as it has been reported that They
have significantly reduced deaths in Japan and the United States.[ii]
Then, there
must be links between the campaign of enforcing the code and poor construction and
the use of the building after construction is completed.
As
humanitarian shelter and settlement practitioners, what contribution can we make
to minimize the risks? There are many, but in this writing, I am proposing just
two of them.
To begin
with builder training. In non-engineered house construction, people must know
that there is Building Code. This mainly happens in developing countries and
many of which are rural. The builders need more knowledge and skills. The
unavailability of appropriate construction materials aggravates this situation.
For instance, there is no deformed steel rebar, cement is too expensive due to transportation
costs, and sand is contaminated with saline or contains silt. Therefore, builders
need to be trained. They need to know how to fix the rebar and properly install
building elements from the foundation to the roof.
Lastly, a campaign
on how to use the building properly. There were incidents due to the removal of
columns since the homeowner wanted to use their house as the shop. Other cases
found that homeowners added more stories since their families were growing. It
is their house; they can do anything according to their needs, but it should be
community messaging; the houses need seismic strengthening due to functional changes.
If their houses collapse, it might affect homeowners and their neighbors. And
the trained builder can work with this seismic strengthening.
Arwin
Soelaksono
Gaziantep, Turkiye. April 9, 2023.
Photo: personal archive. Palu, 2019.
[I] Economic
Losses, Poverty and Disasters 1998-2017, The Centre for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
(UNISDR).
[ii]
Reliefweb. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/earthquakes-don%E2%80%99t-kill-people-collapsed-buildings-do
