Dear Jonathan and others:

There are various low-cost ways of making buildings earthquake safe,  
both from scratch and through retrofitting.   Many of these have been  
tried in various projects in Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal,  
Himalayan states to the south east of Kashmir since the 1999 Chamoli  
earthquake.  Unfortunately, all these projects have remained as pilot  
projects.

The areas in question primarily have stone and/or brick masonry  
structures, often with mud mortar, and with tiled or CGI sheet  
roofs.  They are load bearing structures with very little or no  
reinforcements.  They are often constructed on steep slopes and loose  
soils, and even within natural drainage channels.  The building  
materials and technology promotion council, indian institutes of  
technology, various technical groups and NGOs have carried out their  
own research and worked to popularise low cost earthquake resistant  
construction and retrofitting technologies.  These include seismic  
bands, corner bracings, wall stitches, through-stones etc.  In  
general the retrofitting costs have ranged between 10 and 20 percent  
of the building cost.  Additional costs for incorporating earthquake  
resistant features in new buildings are lesser.

SEEDS, the NGO I work for, has been working on propagating such  
technologies in the region since 2002.  We have carried out shake  
table demonstrations, done demonstrative retrofitting of community  
buildings, conducted training workshops for local masons and  
government engineers, and organised community awareness campaigns to  
create a demand for safe houses and trained masons.  The United  
Nations Centre for Regional Development has recently launched a  
project in the area to carry the work forward by doing demonstrative  
retrofitting of school buildings.  Things are happening.  It is only  
that they are still too small in scale and will need to be upscaled  
and mainstreamed at the governance level to make a significant dent.

In addition, there are still unexplored technological options such as  
the use of bamboo.  North East India has abundent bamboo forests.  
Bamboo can be grown in other Himalayan regions as well.  It grows  
fast, is environmentally appropriate, and is one of the best  
(lightest and strongest) building materials available.  It has also  
been called green steel.  In North East India the prevalent type of  
house construction, called `Assam Type' of construction, is based on  
bamboo and is highly earthquake resistant.  There is a need to  
research and test the viability of locally importing such materials  
and technologies to quake prone areas in the vicinity.

To conclude, things are depressing, but not hopeless.

Regards,
Anshu


Anshu Sharma
SEEDS
D-11, Panchsheel Enclave, New Delhi - 110017, India
Tel: (91-11) 26498371, 51748008  Fax: (91-11) 26498372
Email: [log in to unmask]  Web: www.seedsindia.org


On 19-Oct-05, at 3:38 PM, Jonathan Walter wrote:

Dear All

On October 12th, the Boston Globe announced: 'Much is known today  
about ways to protect buildings from earthquake damage, but doing so  
would be an unachievable luxury in a nation where the gross domestic  
product was only $2,200 per person in 2004'.

Is this true? Or are there low-cost ways of making buildings  
earthquake-safe (either from scratch or retrofitting) in mountainous  
areas such as Kashmir and right across the Himalayan belt? This will  
presumably be a vital issue when it comes to reconstruction - as well  
as for other countries at risk in the region.

Best regards

Jonathan Walter
_____________________________________________________
Jonathan Walter
Editor, World Disasters Report
c/o International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
South Asia Regional Delegation
C-1/35 Safdarjang Development Area
New Delhi-110 016, INDIA
Tel: +91 11 2685 8671
Mob: +91 98104 49283
Email: [log in to unmask]