What Can India Learn from Countries With Earthquake Resistant Buildings?

As the death toll crosses 4,400 in Nepal, countries and institutions across the world are joining hands to help the survivors rebuild from the ruins of the earthquake. This is not an easy task, especially in developing countries such as Nepal, where lack of earthquake resistant buildings has wrecked havoc. Back home in India, the experience has been similar. In 2001, death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Gujarat was around 20,000. But, more recently when Chile witnessed an 8.2 magnitude earthquake in 2014, the death toll was merely 6.

What have countries like Chile done that India can emulate?

● After the 1990 earthquake in the Alto Mayo region of Peru, earthquake  resistant houses were built using a timber and lattice frame design with an earth infill. The characteristics of the houses made were that they had stable concrete foundation and wall bases, with the wooden columns protected from humidit yby using tar. The structural integrity of the building was ensured by joining  columns and beams. The roofing was done using lightweight material and nailing  it to the roof beams.

● In an earthquake resistant housing model developed by a Japanese company, Air Danshin, the house stands on a deflated airbag that gets inflated when the  sensors feel tremors, lifting the house from the concrete foundation. When th earth stops shaking, the bag is deflated and the building comes back to its   position, allowing people to carry on with their lives without being affected by earthquakes.

● According to REID steel, an international structural engineering company headquartered in the UK, houses can be made earthquake resistant by keeping the roof as light as possible. The roof could be made lighter by cladding profiled steel with a layer of added insulation. The floors of the house too should be made as light as possible to be able to bend without allowing the building to crumble during an earthquake.

Research shows that the likelihood of people dying from earthquakes in developing nations is far greater than the ones already developed. According to the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster, the average annual number of victims per 100,000 population in a developed country was 36 while for a developing country, it was 2,879 when experiencing disasters of a similar magnitude. This could be due to economic prosperity which allows people in those country to build houses that are earthquake resistant without compromising on other needs. However, what really stands out is the contribution of poorly constructed buildings in killing people during earthquakes.

Chile, once a very poor country, today is able to protect itself from such natural disasters, because it accepted a set of policies that promoted construction of earthquake resistant buildings.

Would India take the cue?