Peninsular countries of East Asia Taiwan A 7.4 magnitude expected on Wednesday Earthquake It was the worst earthquake in the country in the last 25 years in which 10 people have lost their lives and more than 1000 have been injured.
Although the low number of deaths in this earthquake is a matter of good news and luck for humanity, the question is that in other countries of the world, earthquakes of lesser intensity also bring many sins more destruction. Why does this happen and what measures has Taiwan taken to prevent this disaster?
According to the American newspaper NBC News, dozens of people have gone missing in this earthquake that occurred on Wednesday morning at 7:58 AM.
According to the Emirati newspaper The National, the death toll in three earthquakes in Syria and Turkey in February last year was more than 58,000.
After these three earthquakes of magnitude 7.8, 7.5, and 6.4, the number of collapsed buildings in Turkey alone was more than 37 thousand, while more than 200,000 buildings were partially affected.
According to experts, the architecture of the buildings affected during earthquakes and how they are constructed play an important role in determining the outcome of the earthquake.
Taiwan, the US state of California, Japan and Italy are among the few states that have Building codes are fixed in such a way that they can withstand earthquakes.
‘Buildings kill people, not earthquakes’
“Buildings kill people, not earthquakes,” says Dr Raphael, senior lecturer in aerospace and design engineering at the University of Bristol.
“When you’re in an area with a lot of earthquakes, you have to set building codes,” he says. If you follow them, your buildings will be less likely to collapse.’
According to him, both Turkey and Taiwan have very good building codes, but most of the buildings in Turkey were built before these building codes were implemented.
The most interesting thing during this earthquake was that the Taipei 101 Center in Taiwan, which was once the tallest building in the world, remained completely safe.
This building, considered the business center of Taiwan, was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010 until the construction of the Burj Khalifa.
A 7.5 earthquake hit Taiwan yesterday and footage shows the Taipei 101 skyscraper shaking.
The 1,670ft building famously has a 703 ton steel ball hanging between the 88th and 92nd floors, which acts as a “dampener system” to reduce building sway by 30-40% during earthquakes… pic.twitter.com/x1vJBoKX4V
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) April 3, 2024
The height of this building is 508 meters i.e. regarding 1670 feet.
In this video posted by user Tarang Phan, it can be seen that the cause is being attributed to a pendulum or hanging ball between the 88th and 92nd floors of the building, which cost around $4 million to build. The cost of
What are building codes and what does it cover?
Building codes are the rules and regulations that Engineering and scientific experiments are necessary for the construction of buildings to be constructed in any area on the basis of
These may vary from country to country and region to region, but they have a few commonalities that we are describing here. Pakistan also introduced new building codes following the devastating 2005 earthquake.
Weak foundations
According to experts, before constructing a building at any place, it is evaluated how deep and strong the foundations of the lowest floor of the building will be and what kind of materials will be used in their construction. .
“Many buildings are very densely populated and in narrow spaces with little space between them,” says Japanese professor Sawdardis. After the earthquake in Taiwan, many buildings have tilted to one side due to the weak construction of the first floor or ground floor of these buildings.’
According to him, ‘the upper floors of these buildings have been almost preserved, but the subsidence of the ground floor shows that there was more space in their construction or their walls were made of glass.’
In this April 3, 2024 photo, workers gather in an office following the earthquake on the Taiwan Peninsula (Photo: AFP)
Warning system
Professor Savardis adds that apart from buildings, the behavior of the people living in them and the warning systems installed there also play an important role in how many lives are lost during an earthquake.
According to him, ‘Japan has a state-of-the-art system that detects earthquakes and issues warnings to the public.
“A system and a population that knows what to do during an earthquake can massively change the outcome of an earthquake.”
Let us tell our readers that Japan is one of the few countries where earthquake drills are conducted in schools so that if an earthquake occurs, the students know how to hide under their desks and cover their heads. To be preserved.
In New Zealand too, hundreds of buildings were razed to the ground and rebuilt in Christchurch city to cope with the earthquake two years ago.
This was done following the 2011 earthquake in New Zealand that killed 185 people.
According to the American newspaper New York Times, following the earthquake that occurred in Taiwan on Wednesday, there have been more than three hundred followingshocks until Thursday.
Two buildings in the city of Hualien, the most affected by the earthquake, were also spared from collapsing following sustaining some damage.
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
One of them is a red brick building named Uranus whose lower floors have completely collapsed.
This building is an example of how well Taiwan prepared itself to deal with an earthquake.
Daniel Aldrich, director of Northeastern University’s Global Resilience Institute in Taiwan, says that earthquakes of the same magnitude have caused many times more deaths in other countries. But even in Taiwan, most of the deaths have been caused by falling stones rather than falling buildings.’
Rail service has been restored in Taiwan by Thursday following Wednesday’s earthquake.
Taiwan has had earthquake regulations in place since 1974, but the 1999 Chi Chiquake killed more than 2,400 people and injured more than 10,000. After which strict enforcement of building codes became more intense.
After Wednesday’s earthquake China has also offered to help Taiwan, but Taiwan rejected the offer of Chinese assistance.
According to the Times magazine, Taiwan’s Mainland Council responded to the Chinese State Council’s offer of assistance by saying, “We thank China for its concern.” We do not need any help from China regarding this earthquake.’
The American think tank Wilson Center attributed the low damage caused by the earthquake in Taiwan to Taiwanese engineering and preparation for earthquakes.
Note: This report was aided by reports from The National, The New York Times, Times Magazine and the Willis Center.
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2024-07-13 13:01:41