GUWAHATI, April 30 � Modern technologies are there to save human lives from the challenges thrown by the high-magnitude earthquakes. Engineered structures, designed and built in accordance with the IS Codes 1893 and 1320, are safe ones and this has been proved even in the Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015, said the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers� Association (AREIDA) here today.
Addressing a press conference here today, AREIDA president PK Sarma asserted that high-rise buildings have become a fait accompli for the Guwahatians with a population density of 4,800 per sq km and limited residential areas in their city. He informed mediapersons that after the 2001 Bhuj earthquake, the buildings of Guwahati became the subject of numerous studies conducted by various Indian and foreign agencies. All of them have reported favourably.
The most recent technical study was undertaken by a Norwegian agency of international repute, named NORSAR, in association with the Assam Engineering College, which was funded by the Royal Embassy of Norway.
The project has already covered 18,000 buildings in Guwahati through satellite data and field survey. Experts from Norway and Assam Engineering College have simulated earthquakes like the one in Nepal and even the Great Assam Earthquakes of 1897 and 1950 and their impact on these buildings using a high tech software called Sap2000, which was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge University and Berkeley University, California. Just a week back, the agency had reported that the resilience of buildings in Guwahati to probable earthquake is far better than the buildings studied in other Indian cities, Sarma claimed.
Moreover, in Guwahati, no high-rise building can be constructed without the services of the licenced architects, engineers, structural engineers, geotechnical engineers and field supervisors. The design prepared by the structural engineer has to be vetted by a structural design review panel formed with the experts of the IIT Guwahati and Assam Engineering College.
At the field level, the construction has to be supervised by the licenced architects, engineers and supervisors who are legally responsible for technical work standards and who issue certificates of compliance directly to the authorities. There is no scope for the builder to flout norms, added Sarma.
In the Gujarat, Latur and the Uttarkashi earthquakes, engineered buildings survived the earthquakes and there was no loss of life. In Nepal � where there is no home-made building code and the Indian IS Codes are followed for constructing high-rise structures � a similar pattern has been observed. Numerous high-rise buildings are standing in the midst of devastated areas, while smaller and older buildings have led to maximum death and destruction, said Sarma.
Giving an example of how the engineered structures have been surviving in the State, Sarma said that the pillars of the Saraighat Bridge over the Brahmaputra, each of which is taller than the Qutub Minar, could withstand the August 6, 1988 earthquake of the magnitude 7.3 in the Richter Scale, Sarma said, referring to the earthquake data provided by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority.
