Policy Tools for Housing Earthquake Safety

Abstract eng:
There are several effective tools to reduce or prevent life and property losses during an earthquake. The experiences from past earthquakes show that effective implementation of earthquake resistant codes can reduce the losses significantly. This is because the collapse of houses is often the single largest cause of human deaths and economic losses resulting from earthquakes. However, there are many vulnerable houses with structural deficiencies in a number of developing countries situated in earthquake prone regions in the world. These vulnerable houses are constructed using traditional techniques without the aid of an architect or engineer. The research seeks to tackle this situation and to protect vulnerable people from possible future disasters. The first challenge is to define the process that is appropriate for individual country contexts. The second challenge is to disseminate the code to communities. It is verified that effective building code implementation requires not only the capable national institutions for strict enforcement but also means to engage community people through disseminating the information and involving professionals for community consultations.

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