GUWAHATI, March 25 - The Indian subcontinent is facing heightened seismic activities and such activities are likely to last for a period of about 30 years hence and then subside. In view of such a situation, it has become obligatory for the governments, structural engineers and builders of this subcontinent to take recourse to rigorous procedures to make the existing structures safer and the upcoming structures resistant to earthquakes.
This was the observation made by noted structural engineer and country manager for Miyamoto International in India Sandeep Donald Shah. He was speaking at a knowledge sharing workshop organized by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on the occasion of its foundation day at the Ganeshguri NEDFi Convention Centre here on the topic �Earthquake Safety �Ensuring Structural Stability of existing and upcoming construction� on March 22.
State�s Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia formally inaugurated the workshop.
Shah informed the audience that the new earthquake code of the country is coming up in June next. Moreover, the Union Ministry of Urban Development recently released the model by-laws for construction activities.
By this time, acting on a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court of India has laid stress on generating public awareness and organizing public debates on the issues concerning performance-based construction. In regard to earthquake safety, he said the existing buildings pose challenges.
Care must be taken of the buildings which include those housing the deputy commissioners� offices, hospitals and radio stations that are important for their post-earthquake use. Recently, the Union government adopted a safety code for the hospital buildings, he informed.
�The importance of the improved performance of the buildings during the earthquakes lies in the fact that we need to protect both life and investment,� he said.
Referring to the latest Manipur earthquake, he observed that the government buildings built by the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) there, by and large collapsed because of structural flaws.
There are two methods to protect buildings. These are increased structural capacity of the buildings and providing the buildings with the capacity to absorb the impacts of earthquakes to meet the seismic demand, said the Miyamoto International country manager.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Chandan Mahanta of the IIT Guwahati said that development is a comprehensive social, economic and political process. Prof Mahanta also referred to the Sandai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030; the global targets to reduce mortality, number of affected people and economic loss etc., and people-centred preventive approach.
The workshop was attended, among others, by officials of various government departments, representatives from the GMDA, GMC, private developers, engineers, architects, faculties and students of management and engineering institutes.
