Shocking images of a apartment complex in Tainan felled like a tree by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake have highlighted what is needed to build a structure that can withstand seismic shocks.
Like Taiwan, Japan is quake-prone — it suffers about one-fifth of the world’s most powerful tremors. It has used a mix of ancient and modern technologies to make its buildings increasingly quake-proof. Lessons have been consistently learned and building standards subsequently raised in the wake of deadly disasters, such as the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which killed 6,434 people.
When a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, the shaking in Tokyo was violent. However, buildings — including the nearly complete 634m-tall Tokyo Skytree tower and other skyscrapers — survived intact.
Here is a look at advanced technologies that Japan uses to protect its buildings, including basic steps to make a building quake-resistant and special mechanisms for protecting skyscrapers:
Resisting the force of a tremor is the most conventional way to protect structures from earthquakes. That means basically reinforcing the walls and supporting columns. One often-seen example is strengthening bridges by wrapping their support columns with steel frames.
After the March 2011 quake, many schools reinforced their buildings by adding cross-beams to window frames, another example of an extra bit of strength that can go a long way to make buildings safer.
Meanwhile, tall buildings can be constructed to absorb shocks from an earthquake. The idea is for the building to control the tremor rather than the other way around. Oil dampers are a key technology employed in Tokyo skyscrapers. When a powerful quake hits, such buildings are designed to sway like a pendulum so that the movement effectively absorbs the shockwaves.
The high-rise Mori Tower in Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills development uses such technology. During the March 2011 quake, not a single glass was broken in a 50th-floor restaurant.
The latest idea is to “isolate” tremors, which means separating the building from the earth by measures including embedding absorbent rubber in its foundation.
By using “seismic isolation” technologies, the scale of tremors felt in the topping structure could be greatly reduced, experts say.
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