NOS News•
Thousands of buildings collapsed in the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. For example, in the city of Antakya in the deep south of Turkey, the damage is enormous. Although the focus is now mainly on rescuing people from the rubble, the question arises of how earthquake-resistant construction can be done in the future.
“Earthquake-resistant construction is certainly possible, even for such severe earthquakes,” says Sander Pasterkamp, lecturer in structural engineering at TU Delft. According to Pasterkamp, the big problem now is that many buildings in Turkey are made of masonry. “That is moisture-resistant and soundproof, but absolutely not earthquake-resistant.”
It is important that buildings are light, says Pasterkamp: “Buildings want to move with the vibrating earth and the lighter the building, the less energy that moving along releases.” That, together with other principles, such as symmetrical building and not too large open spaces on the ground floor – often the case with retail spaces – would have “made a big difference”, he says.
A building on roller skates
Rudi Roijakkers of the Association of Dutch Constructors also says that it is quite possible to build earthquake-resistant buildings, even for earthquakes of this scale. He points to Tokyo and New Zealand, where there have also been strong earthquakes, but where the damage was less.
According to Roijakkers, the trick is to make not only light, but also ‘tough’ buildings. Buildings that are ‘flexible’ and move with vibrations. “You would even prefer buildings to be deformed after the earthquake. That means that they have absorbed a lot of energy. You can also put a building on ‘roller skates’: if you are on roller skates yourself and your surface suddenly moves, you can imagine that you yourself remain fairly stable.”
That effect can also be created for buildings, says the building expert. “That knowledge is also known in Turkey, the Netherlands has even brought experts from Turkey for houses in Groningen to teach us how to build earthquake-resistant. But it is very expensive and supervision in Turkey is probably insufficient.”
In addition, Roijakkers thinks that the building materials used were of insufficient quality: “Now that cities are getting bigger, high-rise buildings are needed in many more places and you see that people fall back on cheap and easy options.”
According to Pasterkamp, a solution for the future could be to build more with concrete and steel. “Wood also works well. Single-family wooden houses are eminently earthquake-resistant, because they are light and everything is nailed together, so the whole construction is firmly connected. If one beam fails, another can often take over the carrying weight.”
