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Modern italian buildings, not ancient ones, pose biggest earthquakerisk by ferujkll sdff
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Modern italian buildings, not ancient ones, pose biggest earthquakerisk |
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On Friday a group of Italian architects wrote an open lettercriticizing the lack of security standards for private and publicbuildings in Italy, warning that there are 6 million buildingsfacing grave seismic risks. The document, bearing the signatureof the National Council of Architects (the document can be viewed,in Italian, here), went unnoticed until Sunday, when a 5.9magnitude earthquake shook northern Italy, leaving at least sevenpeople dead and 4,000 homeless. Yesterday's quake was the third major earthquake to hit Italy inthe past decade. It was not the strongest, nor did it cause themost damage, but it is a reminder of the importance of buildingstandards in the country.
Similar to the aftermath of the 2009earthquake that almost destroyed the entire city of L'Aquila incentral Italy (read Monitor coverage here), the Sunday quake hasprompted public questioning about the alleged lack of preventionmeasures to avoid high casualties. Hardest hit by the earthquake was the Emilia Romagna province innorthern Italy, a region renowned for its culinary exports, such asParmesan cheese, lasagna, and tortellini. It is also well known forits medieval architecture. And, while images of a collapsed 13thcentury tower in the ancient town of Finale Emilia has beenbroadcasted worldwide, it was the collapse of a modern building ina suburb of Ferrara that was most deadly, killing four men.
Aftershocks continued throughout the afternoon on Monday. On Monday the Corriere della Sera, Italy's major newspaper,published a front page editorial asking for stricter building codesand drills in public schools: Other [countries in our situation]would set stricter building standards, train the population, andget children to practice [evacuation drills] beginning inpre-school," wrote commentator Gian Antonio Stella. It alwayshappens there's a sense of urgency right after a major quake,but in the end we never manage to get stuff done, says LeopoldoFreyrie, the president of the National Council of Architects, whoclaims his organization has been trying to raise the issue foralmost 20 years. The problem, explains Mr.
Freyrie, is that Italy's buildings aretoo old and poorly constructed: The danger lies not so much inancient monuments, as in the buildings constructed between the late1940s and the early 1970s: These tend to be very dangerous. Despite the fact that the country is mostly associated with ancientmonuments, the vast majority of Italy's buildings date from WorldWar II, when the population exploded and the nation needed torebuild quickly after heavy bombing. However, antiseismic standards were introduced only in 1973,which means about half of the current houses lack them, saysFreyrie. The architect says there are techniques that allow therestructuring of an old building so that it can meet, or at leastget close to, modern standards. With some exception, you canintervene on an old house without rebuilding it from scratch, forinstance applying special plasters, he says.
But Freyrie says these requests often go unheeded. One way oranother, our requests always end up being stopped in theParliament, he says, shaking his head. Some people say it willbe too expensive. Yet, since World War II Italy has lost more than160 billion euros not to mention 4,000 lives! due toearthquake damages. Many of those could have been prevented. I am an expert from Wires, Cables & Cable Assemblies, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as dissolve silicone sealant , making magnesium oxide.
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