Seismic standard
The rapid spread of urbanization through the world’s developing countries has led to huge demands on the construction industry to produce buildings quickly, cheaply and efficiently. As one would expect, in many cases, quality is overlooked in the scramble to meet targets and deadlines and often buildings are designed and built to no set standard. Fewer than 20 per cent of the buildings in downtown Kobe were usable after the 1995 earthquake, not to mention the 105,000 houses that were totally destroyed, leaving 300,000 homeless.
The recent earthquakes in Indonesia and Pakistan have once again highlighted the urgent need for seismic-protection isolators, first developed in the UK in the 1950s. Elastomeric isolators, the leading seismic isolation device, consist of multi-layered rubber and steel plates that support structures while softening any movements. The efficacy of these isolates has become widely accepted now and the new ISO 22762 standard focuses specifically on the design and quality control of isolators in areas of high seismic activity. It was developed over five years by manufacturers and structural engineers from around the world and it is hoped it will help to harmonize the existing standards in individual countries.
