Fumio Kaneko, renowned seismological engineer from Japan, is worried by the designs of new buildings coming up in Ahmedabad.
Fumio Kaneko, renowned seismological engineer from Japan, is worried by the designs of new buildings coming up in Ahmedabad. He says there are many structural flaws in the buildings which could make them vulnerable to earthquakes.
"I saw a similar building with a similar design come up in the same place where an 8-storyed building had collapsed during the
2001 quake," Kaneko said on Sunday on the sidelines of the international symposium on earthquake sciences being held at the Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar.
During his lecture at the symposium, Kaneko gave a seismic hazard assessment for Gandhidham in Kutch district. He said that the tectonic plates on which Kutch was located were similar to those of the Japanese city, Kobe. In 1995, Kobe was devastated by a major earthquake which had killed thousands.
"The two quakes were similar in nature," he said, comparing the Kobe temblor with the Bhuj quake of 2001. He further said that such high intensity earthquakes happen once in a thousand years but when they do occur, they cause havoc as was seen in Kutch in 2001.
Kaneko is the chief engineer of the Japanese company, OYO International, and has been working on post-quake reconstruction work in the Kutch region for the last 10 years.
Talking to DNA he said that the government and the people must recognise the risk of quakes that exist in the state and added that more effort is needed in this direction by the government, people as well as the builders.
When asked about choosing between 'prediction' and 'prevention' of earthquakes, he had no hesitation in opting for 'prevention'.
"You can't predict earthquakes," Kaneko said. "Japan has already given up after spending billions on this. Now we focus more on prevention which includes disaster management."
He said the government should come up with stringent laws to ensure that only quake-proof structures are built in the state. "I see many flaws in the buildings coming up all around. We shouldn't take the threat of quakes lightly," Kaneko said.
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