Improving Housing Seismic Safety in Developing Countries

Abstract eng:
India is on the brink of a massive housing boom, with an emphasis on building more low cost housing, including a goal of 30 million new housing units by 2022. This paper, part of a special session on nontechnical strategies to improve the seismic safety of housing in developing countries, addresses some of the challenges in improving the seismic safety of such housing in India. Unsafe building stock is a product of a number of complex issues that include the type of governance, the overall construction milieu, awareness of stakeholders in the building delivery process, and the capacity of professionals engaged in the building industry. Simplistic prescriptions for training or assigning the blame on corruption cannot solve the problem of these unsafe buildings. The problem needs to be addressed at several levels in a systematic manner. Mechanisms to provide and/or improve the technical expertise of those involved in housing design and construction need to be in place because this is clearly a weak link in the system. A formal structure for accountability of those in the building process, particularly the architect as the lead professional responsible, needs to be developed. A culture of safety has to be built into the delivery system for housing.

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