Seismic micro-zoning and city planning
Quick rescue: Seismic micro-zoning helps to speed up relief work after disasters.
Seismic micro-zoning is necessary in city planning so that in case of a natural calamity, such as an earthquake, the district administration and the disaster management team in a city knows how to go about rescue operations.
A. Bhoominathan, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT, Madras, says that study of soil properties is important to know the kind of design a building should have. Since Ernakulam has different compositions of soil because it has both coastal and mountainous terrains, it is important that the town planners have an idea of seismic micro-zoning.
Prof. Bhoominathan, who is in charge of micro-zoning studies in Chennai for which IIT, Madras, is the nodal agency, says that constructing tall buildings and bridges on deep soil sites (where thickness of soil is in several layers) requires effective designing to lessen the risk of damage during earthquakes.
Similarly, rocky areas require a different design. More damage is expected on single- or double-floor buildings in a rocky area. The thickness of soil decides the response of the constructed structure during an earthquake. The district administration can suitably plan if micro-zoning for earthquakes is taken up, he adds.
Prof. Bhoominathan was in Kochi on a training programme for engineers and architects organised by the United Nations Development Programme and the district administration. As Kochi has been recently included as a vulnerable city for earthquakes, the training programme aimed at equipping the engineers working in government institutions and private organisations to get an update on design modules for disaster mitigation.
The micro-zoning study is part of a project of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.
The National Earthquake Disaster Mitigation project for training the engineers is being jointly implemented by the Union government and the United Nations Development Programme through the district administration.
SHYAMA RAJAGOPAL
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