Seismic design incorporated in market complex at Tombisana HS ground
Steps taken up to withstand earthquakes
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 02 2016:
Taking a cue from the devastating earthquake of January 4, seismic design has been incorporated in the market complex being constructed at the erstwhile Tombisana High School compound.
PWD SE-II N Subash told The Sangai Express that they got time to incorporate seismic design in the overall design of the market complex as it was at the stage of foundation laying when the earthquake occurred.
There was little change in the original design except for the addition of seismic design.
According to the original design, the columns as well as beams were of round shape but they have change to square shape apart from adding more rings.
Seismic design is of various types.
The first type will withstand minor quakes and no damage will be done.
The second type will withstand mid-range earthquakes but the structures may suffer some damages like cracked wall etc.
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The third type may not withstand high intensity quakes but the damaged structures would be repairable.
The fourth type would not withstand very high intensity earthquakes but the structures would not collapse immediately.
There would be ample time for retrieving goods/articles kept within the structures before they collapse, said SE Subash.
No one can predict earthquake with any degree of certainty.
As no one can predict whether the life cycle of earthquakes would be completed within a year or after 300 years, nobody goes for earthquake foolproof design.
Construction of buildings with earthquake foolproof design is very costly.
So earthquake foolproof design is limited to very few structures.
Cracks and fissures created by earthquakes on buildings are something anticipated in the design concept of the buildings.
People get worried when they see these cracks and fissures due to ignorance.
There are certain rules which should be strictly followed regarding structural designs particularly at the joints between columns and beams if the structures must withstand earthquakes or their impacts should be minimized.
It was because of certain structural lapses/loopholes that certain parts of Khwairamband market complexes were damaged in the recent earthquake, said the PWD engineer.
The State PWD has many engineers who are adept in seismic designs.
As such, the original design of the market complex being constructed at the erstwhile Tombisana High School compound has been improved by incorporating seismic design.
Still there is a need to monitor the construction work very strictly.
It was on account of lack of supervision that the two Ima Keithels suffered damages in the recent earthquake.
Notably, the two damaged Ima market complexes were built by NBCC and Simplex Project while the third Ima Keithel which was not affected by the quake was constructed by the State PWD when K Ranjit was the Works Minister.