IIIT-H innovates Indian standard code for post-earthquake building safety

Hyderabad: The efforts of the IIIT-H has resulted in the development of the Indian Standard Code for Post-Earthquake Safety Assessment of Buildings published by the Bureau Of Indian Standards (BIS). The code will be used as part of a post-earthquake survey to determine if buildings that have survived the quake and the aftershocks can be re-occupied immediately or not.

Prof. Pradeep Ramancharla, previous head of the Earthquake Engineering Research Centre at IIITH, and current Director of the Central Building Research Institute, said that some aftershocks can continue for days, months and even years after a large earthquake. In order to have an easy mechanism for quick identification of the occupancy-readiness of such structures, an Indian standard was proposed by the Earthquake Engineering Sectional Committee. 

He said completed survey forms result in colour-coded tagging of buildings - for example, a green-tagged building signifies no life-threatening or economic loss-inducing feature present in it and that it can be occupied, while a red-tagged building has at least one life-threatening feature and indicates that it cannot be occupied. 

Out of 32 parameters listed in the survey form ranging from the kind of soil and foundation conditions to the architectural features and elements, 11 parameters have been successfully captured by drones so far, IIIT-H informed.