Our country has a long history of earthquakes with high magnitudes that have caused massive, widespread damage in several areas. Earthquakes take away several lives and leave thousands of people injured especially due to collapsed buildings. Earthquakes are not just life threatening, they also cause several cracks and damages to many buildings and multi-storeyed apartments. These earthquake effects have called for the need of earthquake resistant building in the country.
The recent earthquake in Nepal with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale have collapsed several buildings in Nepal and caused damages to various building in many cities in India as well. These effects and previous earthquakes in India have urged builders to use earthquake resistant steel in building construction. Post several high magnitude earthquakes in India in the past, the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) have started to develop reinforced steel bars such as TMT bars, EQ 500, Fe 500, EQR and HCR. These sturdy and robust steel bars that meet all quality norms of government when used in building construction offer the building extra durability to withstand earthquakes.
Though only large construction projects and top builders of Mumbai and other cities use such high-quality steel bars for construction, small builders and individual home builders are still negligible to earthquake resistant steel bars.
Recently to make all top builders in Mumbai and other metros know the importance of earthquake resistant building, the first, Taylor Devices India, the Indian subsidiary of US-based Taylor Devices Inc. has launched certification for earthquake resistance buildings in India. The company will construct earthquake resistant building using shock absorbers inside the wall. These shock absorbers uses the aerospace technology to keep building stay stronger even during earthquakes of higher magnitude of up to 7.5 on the Richter scale.
The Taylor Devices India categorizes building into Category A, B C & D based on their resistance to earthquakes. While Category A and B building can stand up to higher magnitude earthquakes, Category C and D need structural repair to endure earthquake. This company will give Taylor Protected' and 'Taylor Earthquake Protection' brand certification to building that fall under Category A and B. This certification will now allow home buyers to know about the earthquake resistance of the building they are planning to buy.
Not just use of high-quality steels and shock absorbers can make a building structurally sound and robust, but it also requires application of various engineering technology while constructing. Certain skyscrapers are built on ball bearings, springs, and padded cylinders that absorbs shocks and keep the building stand still while the ground shakes. These springs and cylinders moves with the ground during an earthquake rather shaking the whole of the building. When a building is constructed on a correct, strong foundation, then it can endure earthquakes of smaller magnitude.
India being one of the countries that come under Seismic Zones III, IV & V. the need for earthquake resistant building have become very vital. Though constructing earthquake proof building require a lot of technology and huge expenses, it is highly necessary to keep people alive during those massive earth calamity. At least the New projects in Mumbai and in other cities if India should use shock absorbers and high-quality steel for construction
