Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner G. Veerapandiyan on Sunday sought the opinion of experts on how to make buildings earthquake resistant and urged them to prepare a report, which could be forwarded to the government for inclusion in the building bylaws.
Mr. Veerapandian said building bylaws laid emphasis on greenery and clean energy systems such as solar power. However, there was no mention in the bylaws on anything pertaining to making buildings earthquake resistant. “Building bylaws do not focus on earthquake resistant buildings. The experts can make suggestions in the form of a detailed report,” he said.
The VMC Commissioner was speaking at a seminar on ‘Earthquake safety measures’ organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) here on Sunday.
Addressing the gathering, IIT Jodhpur Director C.V.R. Murty said the standard operating procedures were not being followed in majority of the cities. The bylaws were not updated to face the challenges thrown by the earthquakes. One-third of city was reduced to rubble in Chile in a devastating earthquake in 1969. The government there made a small amendment to the bylaws to ensure that buildings were earthquake resistant. Thereafter not much damage or loss occurred in subsequent earthquakes, he pointed out. Ramancharla Pradeep Kumar, Head, IIT Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, said it was not earthquakes that were killing people but badly planned, designed and executed buildings. Losses could be averted with a few changes in the design and execution. “It is a myth that earthquake resistant buildings escalate the cost of construction,” he said. D. Srinagesh of NGRI said 60 per cent of the buildings constructed were not in accordance with standards
Consulting Engineer K. Krishnamurthy, Chief Consulting Engineer V.V. Kishna Reddy, CREDAI AP chapter president A. Siva Reddy, general secretary R.V.Swamy, Vijayawada chapter vice president Ratna Srinivas and others spoke.
Experts call for changes in building bylaws; say procedures not being followed in majority of cities to tackle quakes
