The vulnerability of buildings designed before Chennai was classified under ‘seismic zone III’ should be reassessed, says an expert.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on affordable housing, former IIT professor and consultant of United Nations Development Programme A R Santhakumar told City Express that vulnerability of Chennai buildings is yet to be assessed fully to identify whether they are disaster- resistant, especially those built prior to 2000.The buildings were designed when Chennai was classified under ‘seismic zone II’ (low intensity zone). After 2000, the Bureau of Indian Standards, based on various scientific inputs from a number of agencies including earthquake data supplied by IMD, classified Chennai under ‘seismic zone III’.
The buildings have to be studied keeping mind the safety for a zone-III level earthquake. According to a paper published by Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences - An Open Access Journal of the European Geosciences Union in 2011, 93.8 per cent of houses built of earthen and stone and brittle burned brick are vulnerable to quakes.
It also states that the coastal belt of Chennai has been converted into a residential area, altering the land form.
Professor Santhakumar also stressed the need for setting up a group that monitors the structural safety of buildings. Neither Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority nor the Chennai Corporation look into the structural safety of buildings, the former dean of Anna University claimed.