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建议 Chinese construction under scrutiny after quake
Chinese construction under scrutiny after quake
# Expert says big cities where construction is better regulated would have fared better
# China has no uniform code for quake-resistant public buildings, engineer says
# Many damaged buildings were built before 1976 quake spurred new requirements
# Chinese dams are well-designed, expert says
(CNN) -- Wrenching scenes of survivors being dug out of collapsed schools and apartments after this week\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s earthquake in central China suggest widespread disregard for building codes in the rapidly urbanizing region, observers said Wednesday.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There are lessons to be learned from this, and I think the main lesson is that codes need to be followed,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Reginald DesRoches, a civil engineering professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
Although widespread damage from Monday\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s magnitude-7.9 earthquake was \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"not terribly surprising,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" cities like Beijing and Shanghai -- where construction is more closely regulated -- would likely have fared better than the cities of Sichuan province, where the quake\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s epicenter was, DesRoches said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This earthquake may have been larger than the code specified, but it was adequate enough that you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'d have satisfactory performance,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What you see in rural areas in particular is that builders just don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t have the funds to invest to actually follow the codes, and there are no regulations to do so.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
One of the scenes that has drawn the most attention in the wake of the disaster has been in the city of Shifang, where the state-run news agency Xinhua reported more than 2,500 dead and 30,000 people \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"missing or out of reach\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Wednesday. The quake brought down a school full of children and two chemical plants, which leaked more than 80 tons of ammonia, Xinhua reported.
Brian Tucker, a seismologist with the California nonprofit Geohazards International, said China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s earthquake danger zones are \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"very diffused\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" compared to the United States, where fault zones tend to run in narrow bands.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The growth in some of these cities is so fast, it would be no mean feat to keep up with it,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Tucker said.
Tucker\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s organization provides technical assistance and advice to help reduce earthquake risks or deaths in developing countries. He said a civil engineer in China has told him the country has no centralized, uniform code for earthquake-resistant public buildings such as schools or hospitals, and the size of the fallen beams and columns pictured in video of the disaster appear inadequate to the task.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Some of the columns that are broken have exposed rebar that is not tied together essentially with horizontal bands, which makes sure the rebar stays attached to each other and to the concrete,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.
DesRoches said the collapse of schools was surprising, because they typically are built to tougher standards. But he said many of the buildings that fell were built before 1976, when an earthquake that killed 250,000 people spurred Chinese authorities to require earthquake-resistant construction for many buildings.
And in London, Tom Foulkes, the director-general of Britain\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Institute of Civil Engineers, said cities in earthquake zones have to \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"design accordingly.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"
Unlike the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, where allegations of widespread corruption in the country\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s building industry followed an earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people, Foulkes said that nothing he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s seen of the Chinese disaster suggests corruption.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"But it would suggest that the people who\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve actually built these buildings, maybe paid for them, haven\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t been able to afford the highest standards, the best materials, the latest designs,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.
Monday\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s quake also damaged a major dam near the city of Dujiangyan, but an investigation revealed that the dam is stable and safe, Xinhua reported Wednesday.
Foulkes said China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s major dams are well-designed.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"I think the real danger will be from hundreds, maybe thousands, of smaller dams, some of them possibly very ancient, which have never experienced this sort of shock before,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.
Tucker said school safety was a special concern of his organization. California authorites have closely monitored the construction of schools since a 1933 earthquake in Long Beach killed more than 100 people, many struck by falling debris as they ran out of shaking buildings. Earthquake-resistant buildings there cost about 4 percent more to design and build than other structures, he said.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s not rocket science, but it is something that needs some attention,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.
地震考验中国建筑[CNN]
(CNN消息)周三观察家指出，在此次华中地震中，幸存者从倒塌的校舍和房屋中被人挖出的揪人画面，暗示了快速城市化地区对建筑标准的普遍忽视。
“此次地震带给人们很多教训，我认为最重要的是建筑标准必须遵守”，亚特兰大州乔治亚工程学院的土木工程教授Reginald DesRoches说道。
尽管周一7.9级地震的广泛破坏“并不是特别令人吃惊”，如果发生在类似北京和上海这样的城市——那儿的建筑控制更为严格——很可能造成的损失会比四川省小得多，而四川是此次地震的震中，DesRoches说。
“此次地震强度或许超过了建筑标准，但是标准能够将损失控制在令人满意的接受范围”，他说。“特别要注意的是，在农村地区房屋的建造者没有足够的资金以达到建筑规范，而在那儿也没有强制执行的法规。”
灾难发生之后，最吸引人注意的现场之一是什邡，据国有的新华通讯社周三报道，超过2500人死亡，30000人失踪或援助尚无法达到。地震摧毁了一个满是孩子的学校以及两座化工厂，造成了超过80吨的氨水泄漏，新华社报道说。
Brian Tucker是非赢利组织“地质灾害国际”的地震学家，他说中国的地震危险地带分布非常分散，这一点和美国极为不同，后者的断裂带集中在较窄的区域。
“(在中国地震带附近的)一些城市扩张是如此之快，与之相关的地震灾害研究是一项浩大的工程”，Tucker说。
Tucker所在的组织为发展中国家提供技术援助和建议，以帮助减少地震危险和人员死亡。他说一个中国的土木工程师告诉他，在中国没有适用于学校、医院等公用建筑的、集中统一的执行标准，从视频的画面中也可以看出，倒下的梁柱也有偷工减料。
“一些破损的柱子暴露出钢筋，这些钢筋之间并没有使用水平箍筋进行捆扎，这些箍筋保证钢筋之间，以及钢筋和混凝土接合在一起”，他说。
DesRoches说校舍的倒塌令人吃惊，因为它们一般使用了更严格的建设标准。但是他说很多这类建筑建造于1976年前，那年的一场地震夺走了250000人的生命，那次灾难刺激中国当局为大量建筑制订抗震指标。
在伦敦，英国土木工程研究院的主任Tom Foulkes说，地震活跃区的城市在规划时必须遵从相应的标准。
与1999年的土耳其地震不同的是，土耳其造成20000人死亡的地震被指控与建筑行业普遍存在的腐败脱不了干系。Foulkes说没有证据表明中国的此次灾难与腐败有关。
“但是很有可能，房屋的建造者或购买商品房的居民，没有能力承受最高的设计标准、最好的建筑材料、最新式的设计”，他说。
据新华社报道，周一的地震还损坏了都江堰市附近的一座大坝，但研究表明大坝仍然稳定安全。
Foulkes说中国的大坝都设计完好。
“我认为真正的危险在那些数以百计甚至千计的小水坝，其中一些水坝年代非常古老，之前从未经历过此类地震”，他说。
Tucker说他的组织尤其关注学校安全。从1933年造成100人死亡的长滩地震以来，加州当局密切监控学校建筑，那次地震中许多人被落下的建筑碎片击中。与其它建筑相比，抗震建筑在设计和建造中要多出4%的成本。
“这并不是火箭科学，但也需要相当重视”，他说。
