Buildings not constructed as per Code shall face the ultimate truth during earthquake...

Building constructions are everybody's share of concerns cum interests sans proper expertise. It may be noted that every municipal authorities in the country has dedicated agencies/team/section to look after the building plan sanctioning, registration, construction supervision, issuing of completion certificate, etc. Some of the basic requirements are explained below:

Fig. 1: Despite extensive earthquake resistance measures following 1999 Chi-Chi earthquakes in Taiwan, the Tainan earthquake on Feb 6, 2016 (M6.4) has made inroads to the weakness ingrained in such buildings, resulting that the entire building is to be demolished

1) What role the Civic authority is suppose to play for those unauthorised constructions (recognition of the terms such as Unauthorised, unauthorised-regularised, illegal, irregular, JJ, urban village, … in engineering parlance and earthquake safety!) in designated areas of a city (we know of many urban Villages, colonies,.. where building constructions rule is not admissible) that become “regularised” following some executive order in terms of their safety from earthquakes or any other hazards?

2.            Any documented example/video/publication of good quality construction as per  code so far carried out by any agency/person(Engineer)/ organisation in the country that provide warranty in terms of acceptable (safe) performance against earthquake or any other external hazards? 

                It may be noted that many people working at the construction site often says, they are adding extra cement or Steel to accomplish more safety than design permits. Use of Ready Mix Concrete is made compulsory in many important construction sites. Yet taking into account of extra safety factors during construction amounts to "ignorance" of the system performance. Therefore, if someone conjectures that many Heritage structures have withstood the impact of last so many earthquakes, we can't not justify much our understanding of the subject matter as we are still "ignorant" about the performance of such structures. 

Fig. 2: Buildings constructed in this manners are subjected to severe damages, due to wrong geometry and poor quality. During earthquake if nothing goes wrong, then we can assume that it's lucky or rather we would say resonant frequency conditions did not occur. But any earthquake waves of Intensity V and higher would definitely impact the such buildings because of irregular geometry.

3.            What role the civic agencies are suppose to play while giving occupancy certificates irrespective of the  no. of certificates to be signed by owner, contractor, structural engineer, architect… as per TCPO Building Bye Laws (guideline) 2004 that was issued to all state govt. and UTs by Govt? What are the engineers lookout for the authenticity of their professional zeal in such situation, where accountability is simply based on certificates signed without much of the ground verification/facts on record?

             There are no. agencies coming up in India, who are getting several assignments for the important establishments such as Embassies, Monuments, Heritage building, Communication towers, Hospitals, schools etc. to provide safety certificates! While country has several sources of hiring/procuring instruments such as LiDAR, GPR, Total Stations, NDTs, etc., the expertise for the systematic integration/interpretation of such data from the source are highly limited. Therefore, gaining a certificate from many such agencies are as easy as taking risk insurance from few agencies coming up in the country.   

Fig. 3: Many such important authorised constructions are sometimes motivated by the amount of steel or cement bags used, rather than proper engineering design requirements. This is an utter mismanagement in the willful application of design principles defined in codes. In such construction neither construction methodology is properly followed nor the quality aspects taken care of. As construction is robust and sturdy for a 3 storey building, earthquake of moderate intensities may not impact much due to ambient frequency mismatch. But earthquake resistant design principles are just enough to cater earthquakes historically frequented in the area.

4.            When majority of the constructions even in authorised areas of a city are going in such manner,  where M20 grade concrete or Fe500, grade 53 cement, water quality and skill workmanship etc. are not feasible, what kind of warranty or certificate of occupancy on the fate of such constructed facilities is supposed to be given by civic authority or expected from structural engineers in-charge after the lawful completion of the same as per extant rule in the city?

         It's really precarious condition that underlie in the building construction. In one side, quality materials as per code is not available in the market, more so the quality works manship. Then where is the fate of earthquake resistance measures meant by Code?

Fig.4: As it is often recommended that ductile detailing is more important than providing more no. of steel rods and cement. It's usually found in majority of construction sites that the stirrups as shown in red color are not usually incorporated due to ignorance or site related problems of unacceptable dimensions. However, Codes always highlight such aspects, and it must not cost anything as seen here.

5. While buildings in the commercial areas are having willful yet functional violation of the safety norms at everyone's envy to add/modify some portions of the fateful establishment,, any mishap due to natural or man made events (say heavy rains, hailstorm, flood...fire..bomb blast..), becomes a responsibility of the state/administration/nation. Emergency Preparedness usually takes back seat because, no one is suppose to be careful enough. Because, every one thinks all living in this fashion (see fig. below) are either callous or sensible enough to restore all faith in  the Almighty. ..They are contended with the living standards as they are absent for more than few decades already and so nothing unexpected will happen to them... But caring life and properties are the fundamental aspects of healthy living..Not caring now does not stop us sharing concerns of unhealthy status of built environment and taking timely preparedness drills/actions..

Fig. 5: Buildings of unknown shape and dimensions, carrying so much of nonstructural components but having lots of brisk commercial activities and demands...creates mind boggling circumstance for the civic authority to implement rules and carry out the orders as written in codes/building bye-laws. Therefore, enforcement/implementation aspects are fated to social geo-dynamics, where earthquake safety or even safety of human life from pollution, are not counted much.

Earthquakes are no longer new to us but our temperament has to change in adopting principles defined in the codes/manuals/guidelines under the careful supervision of experts....