After the heartbreaking destruction and lives lost in Turkey and Syria recently and having witnessed the numerous fallen homes, buildings there, the mind asks are we safe in our homes in India? Especially homes in seismic zones 4 & 5.
What were the reasons that in country like Turkey, which is itself a major exporter of materials and where European standards are in place, more than 6000 buildings fell in more than 10 provinces, even though the materials used were of good repute and standing.
Could the government have done something to avoid such massive damage and loss?
How can we check our homes for safety?
How can we build safer?
Sangeeta Wij, is a structural engineer from Delhi College of Engineering. She has been in the practice for over 40 years now. She has worked with the top names in construction. She is a member of the BIS Code committee. She is also a member of Indian Association of Structural Engineers. She had many awards and laurels to her name. She is the perfect person to be here guiding us about the structural safety of our homes.
00:00 Introduction
01:12 Sangeet Ma'am speaks
01:45 Research in IIT for a device that predicts earthquakes
02:12 Tragic numbers in Turkey
03:15 Why was the destruction so massive in Turkey?
05:21 What are the reasons for non compliance?
07:03 Municipal authorities are empowered to take action
09:00 If we have to get our house checked, how can we go about it?
13:07 What is the life of a structure?
13:17 After how many years should we get our structure quality checked?
15:17 Concrete is brittle
15:42 Materials used to build in Turkey are of superior quality, even then buildings fell
18:26 Should the government push the safety drive?
20:40 explaining by example of a structure
23:40 Architects vs Structural engineers
27:11 Regions that have buildings which are relatively not safe in Delhi
29:22 Government Construction vs private construction
32:12 Media should talk about this
33:50 Hospital structures
35:16 Delhi Schools
36:19 Telecom and data centres
38:38 New Building codes vs Old Building codes
41:50 Closing
In the episode, I promise to share her info with all listeners:
Her Email: [email protected]
Her Company website: www.sdec.in
Indian Association of Structural Engineers: https://www.iastructe.co.in/
National Disaster Management Authority: https://ndma.gov.in/media-gallery
Documents mentioned in the episode: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XI5guR6pVdRmo_Gtuz_cBNDx-YU-pSKS?usp=share_link