Expert: Only Quakeproof Apartment Blocks Should Be Built In Armenia
24.11.2011,
02:51
Eduard Khachiyan, a specialist in construction of quakeproof buildings, speaking Wednesday at a conference focused on construction in seismic zones, said that it is necessary to build only quakeproof apartment blocks in Armenia.
YEREVAN, November 23. /ARKA/. Eduard Khachiyan, a specialist in construction of quakeproof buildings, speaking Wednesday at a conference focused on construction in seismic zones, said that it is necessary to build only quakeproof apartment blocks in Armenia.
“We should understand that we live in seismic zone and take into account this factor in building apartment blocks,” he said. “Our efforts should not be limited to forecasting earthquakes - we should concentrate them on cushioning people from consequences of quakes.”
He said that Armenia’s territory is divided into three seismic zones with different seismicity degrees.
Khachiyan said that 24-storey houses should be built only with metal structures and only in the first zone, where quake menace is not so high, 18-21-storey buildings can be constructed of metal and concrete structures, and in the third, the most risky zone nothing but four-storey houses should be built.
The 1988 earthquake reduced to rubble the cities of Spitak and Gyumri (Leninakan formerly) and nearby villages. Some other cities were destroyed partially.
This 10-magnitude quake took 25,000 lives and rendered 140,000 disabled and 500,000 homeless.--0--
