No updates in a decade to quake protection norms - Print View - Livemint

Page 1 of 2

Print Close
Tue, Oct 29 2013. 12 15 AM IST

No updates in a decade to quake protection norms

Guidelines have remained unrevised for a long time even as India has been hit by multiple earthquakes
New Delhi: Bridges, dams and buildings across India are vulnerable to earthquakes because government guidelines for making them quake-resistant have not been revised for over a decadealthough there is enough new seismic data around to update them, according to some leading experts in the field. The norms for earthquake protection are laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) through its Indian Standards on Earthquake Engineering, also known as the standard code. But these have remained unrevised over a period when India has been hit by multiple earthquakes, and procured the advanced technology needed to combat such disasters. The standard code for buildings has remained untouched for over a decade, while those dealing with bridges, dams and embankments have not been revised for up to three decades; internationally, the practice is for a revision every five years. The BIS code for earthquake engineering deals with the standards that are required to help ensure that buildings and other infrastructure are able to withstand minor earthquakes, suffering minimum losses. They come under building by-laws and are enforced by local authorities. The revision of the earthquake-resistant codes for buildings and other infrastructure is critically important, because this is one area which has seen and will be seeing huge investment in coming years, said M. Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). We had taken up the issue with BIS last year, but they had their own set of internal problems, he said. The major issues were unavailability of experts and lack of funding. We had offered to convene a meeting of technical people and other experts, including their people, but BIS rejected the proposal at the last moment. They told us that they would convene a meeting for the purpose, which they failed to do afterwards. Earlier this month, NDMA raised the matter again with K.V. Thomas, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, who oversees BIS as its president. The minister agreed to look into the matter. According to NDMA data, India has been hit by 10 major earthquakes over the last 15 years, resulting in over 20,000 deaths. Around 60% of the nations land area is under threat of moderate to severe earthquakesthat is, it can experience seismic events of a magnitude of seven and above on the MSK (MedvedevSponheuerKarnik) intensity scale equivalent to intensity six on the Richter scale. This seismic zone includes the entire Himalayan belt, stretching to the North-East, as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. First published in 1962, the standard code for earthquake engineeringthe IS 1893was revised in 1966, 1975, 1984. In 2002, these were divided into five parts and part one, dealing with general provisions and buildings, was revised. In 2005, part four, which deals with industrial structures, was modified. There are four other supporting codes concerning earthquake-resistant construction of buildings, but none of them have been revised since 1993.

Around 60% of the nations land area is under threat of moderate to severe earthquakesthat is, it can experience seismic events of a magnitude of seven and above on the MSK (MedvedevSponheuerKarnik) intensity scale equivalent to intensity six on the Richter scale. Photo: Reuters

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/jIeja0kTVt3vImCteQCEVK/No-updates-in-a-decade-to... 10/29/2013

No updates in a decade to quake protection norms - Print View - Livemint

Page 2 of 2

Revisions are based on additional seismic data and further knowledge on the subject. The last time the code for buildings was updated in 2002, it was only because of the 2001 earthquake (in Gujarat) which created pressure on the committee. This was 18 years after the last revision in 1984, said Sudhir K. Jain, director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Typically, as per norms, the BIS codes must be upgraded every five years, and it is the responsibility of the chairman of the particular committee and the BIS to ensure that this happens, he said. Jain and his colleagues at IIT Kanpur played an important role in developing the IS 13920 standard for buildings, one of the codes to make them earthquake-resistant, in the early 1990s. In 2004, the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority assigned a task to IIT Kanpur to revise the earthquake- resistant building codes, said Jain. We came up with modifications needed in the 2002 version and submitted these to the BIS for consideration, but till date these have not been implemented by the BIS. Codes are developed in steps and rationalization is needed at regular intervalsyou cannot expect codes to be suddenly revised incorporating the knowledge of seismic design accumulated over 20 years at once, since one cannot introduce too many complexities in one stroke, he added. Industry experts say a key reason for not upgrading codes is the self-sustaining financial model of BIS, due to which the institution has been economizing in a manner which is not desirable. It raises funds by selling the BIS codes. Defending BIS, D.K. Paul, chairman of the committee on earthquake engineering at BIS and professor emeritus at IIT Roorkee, said: A committee chairman can only conduct the meeting, but cannot convene it. BIS as an organization convenes meetings, which involve people from the industry, academia and government bodies. BIS has limited manpower and resources, so convening these meetings is a huge problem. The members of the committee, including the chairman, are not paid and they have to bear all the expenses themselves. Their participation in the meetings is also voluntary and not mandatory, he said. Updating and developing the codes is a long-drawn process, which requires discussion, argument and research by experts over multiple meetings. After NDMA reached out to BIS, which is working under limitations, the situation has improved a bit and work on this has started, Paul added.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/jIeja0kTVt3vImCteQCEVK/No-updates-in-a-decade-to... 10/29/2013