As Southeast Asia recovers from devastating earthquakes, innovative building designs and smart engineering techniques are being hailed as game-changers in reducing deaths and injuries. From bamboo-infused construction to cost-effective concrete 3D-printing, the region is embracing cutting-edge solutions to make its buildings more resilient to seismic activity.
The primary cause of death in an earthquake is not the shaking ground but crumbling roofs, crashing walls, and collapsing buildings. While no deaths have been reported from the recent 7.7 magnitude ‘earthquake affecting Myanmar and Thailand‘ , one high-rise building collapsed due to a 6.4 aftershock, causing evacuations from buildings in the Thai capital Bangkok.
Earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic plates in the Earth's lithosphere.
The movement creates stress, which is released as seismic waves when the plates suddenly move past each other.
This process can occur at plate boundaries or within the interior of a plate.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) , there are over 14,000 earthquakes worldwide each year, with most being minor and undetectable by humans.
How Earthquakes Cause Buildings to Collapse
Earthquakes can cause buildings to stretch, compress, or shear. ‘Shearing occurs when unaligned forces act on different parts of the building, like twisting a sponge.’ During a quake, these forces can act on a building from side to side and along its length. Rock and brick walls can handle compression loads very well but crack and collapse when stretched or exposed to a shear force. Steel is a more flexible material, which is why it often forms the skeletons of buildings surviving earthquakes.
Designing Buildings for Earthquake Resistance
While ‘earthquakes cannot be prevented,’ buildings can be constructed to minimize deaths and injuries during an earthquake and its aftershocks. Concrete reinforced with steel in buildings offers better resilience compared to traditional construction materials like sand and gravel. Steel bends considerably before breaking, strengthening larger buildings against quakes. In smaller buildings, bamboo can also be used for this purpose.
Earthquake-resistant construction involves designing and building structures that can withstand seismic activity.
This includes using materials with high tensile strength, such as reinforced steel and concrete, to provide stability.
Engineers also use seismic design codes to calculate the structure's ability to absorb shock waves.
Building codes often require structures in earthquake-prone areas to have flexible systems, like ductile steel, to dissipate energy.
Regular maintenance and inspections are crucial to ensure the structure remains safe.
Benefits of Building with Bamboo
Bamboo is a lightweight material that keeps its shape as it falls during an earthquake. It is more flexible than heavy materials, reducing the risk of building collapse and injury to those trapped under debris. Using bamboo in construction can help minimize deaths and injuries from building collapses.
Quake-Resilient Innovations
The World Economic Forum has recommended fitting buildings with ‘base isolation’ systems to separate the building from its foundations using springs or runners. This technology means that when an earthquake starts, the resulting movement will not impose stress on the structure of the building. Many buildings in Japan and Chile use this technology.
Cost-Effective Strategies for Earthquake Resistance
Nepal uses a technique of blending affordable materials like straw bales, used tires, and plastic bottles into construction to make homes earthquake-proof. The South African Housing & Infrastructure Fund will implement concrete 3D-printed houses that are both earthquake-resilient and cost-effective.
Lessons from the Morocco Earthquake
The recent 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Morocco brought building resilience to the forefront. Traditional construction methods used in many parts of Morocco were not regulated for disaster resilience, leading to widespread damage. The use of mud-brick construction and masonry without reinforcement made the buildings vulnerable to collapse.
Importance of Smart Building Engineering
Implementing smart building engineering can save property and infrastructure from collapse and most importantly, save lives and prevent injury. By using lightweight materials, designing structures that can handle the erratic forces of earthquakes, and implementing cost-effective strategies, we can make our buildings more resilient to earthquakes.
Smart building engineering combines architecture, engineering, and technology to create sustainable, efficient, and high-performance buildings.
These structures integrate sensors, data analytics, and IoT devices to monitor and control various systems, including lighting, temperature, security, and energy consumption.
According to the US Green Building Council, smart buildings can reduce energy usage by up to 30% and water usage by up to 50%.
The global smart building market is projected to grow from $135 billion in 2020 to over $540 billion by 2025.
