donaldshah

1. Earthquake Resistant is the Minimum permissible earthquake protection.
2. When someone advertises that a building has been constructed to Earthquake Resistant specification it means that it has been constructed to Minimum Permissible Safety Standards.
3. Earthquake Resistant buildings whether Zone III, IV or V are all based on Life Safety Concept.
4. Earthquake Resistant buildings are so designed so as to prevent a Total Building Collapse thereby saving lives.
5. An Earthquake Resistant building will sustain Structural Damage during an major Earthquake.
6. Incase the damage is more than a threshold level the owner/user will have no option but to demolish and re-construct the building.
7. There exist many technologies that when used make the building nearly Earthquake Proof. Building will not suffer structural damage even in case of major earthquake.
8. These Earthquake Proof Devices are called Seismic Dampers and they absorb the Earthquake Energy just like a Shock Absorber so that the building does not have to get damaged.
9. Dampers increase the building cost by approximately Rupees (Indian) 150-200 per square foot.
10. Dampers come with a performance Guarantee of 35 years and even existing buildings can be upgraded by installing Dampers. Taylor Devices Inc. are the world leaders in Seismic Dampers.

nakul

I am not aware of these facts…

amitroy

An earthquake is the most extreme condition that any building may be required to survive during its lifetime. To survive the natures might safely and surely also poses the greatest challenge to the architects and structural engineers. However the modern day technological advances in the earthquake protection industry have made the solution once considered un-surmountable a reality.

Today most medium and high-rise buildings in India are following Life-Safety Design, more popularly referred as Earthquake Resistant Design for protection against earthquakes. The earthquake will structurally damage the building and incase the damage is above a threshold level there would be no option but to demolish and re-construct.

The architects and structural consultants are therefore are no longer designing only to meet the government building code requirements but are going by the seismic performance criteria being demanded by their clients. Building codes are applicable to all buildings at large belonging to all strata of society and therefore the socio-economic conditions need to be carefully looked into before formulating them.

The risk assessment exercises by the major insurance companies and financial institutions is another factor encouraging people to reduce risks by going in for the state-of-the-art earthquake protection technologies. The insurance companies world over are refusing to guarantee such losses unless the buildings which house these businesses adhere to enhanced safety standards. The reduced insurance premiums and financing at lower rates of interest more than compensates for the cost of enhanced earthquake protection in the long run.

As the awareness and economic prosperity is increasing, more and more people want to reduce risks. Not to forget the urge of many upwardly to live in high-rise buildings away from the pollution and noise with their balconies overlooking the cityscape giving them a sense of achievement, superiority and contentment after a tiring days work. However many have started to realize the peril of staying in a high-rise, they become more vulnerable to the seismic effects.

Source:Indianrealtynews.com

Ram Sharma

Regarding the point number 4 - "Earthquake Resistant buildings are so designed so as to prevent a Total Building Collapse thereby saving lives", I have a question:
What is the earthquake magnitude for which this prevention of total collapse is guaranteed ?
For a Zone II city like Bangalore, does this guarantee hold if the city experiences an earthquake of intensity 6.3 richter scale ? (max intensity expected for Zone II is 5.5).

Nisardel

Dear Mr Ram Sharma,

Delhi and NCR has been upgraded to ZONE IV from ZONE III which gives quite a protection against collapse in case of earthquakes. However, most of the builders are still sticking to old Zone.

Alees

thanks for sharing tis with us. i wasn't knowing this at all and am going to pass it on to my builder and friends.
thanks once again.

BM Shetty

PLEASE ADVISE WHETHR 40 STOREY BUILD EATH QUAKE RESISTANT DESIGN AS PER LOCAL LAW. EX. MUMBAI, MULUND WEST