T

he West Sumatra administration has begun rebuilding its main office using advanced earthquake resistant technologies, a year after the previous office was decimated by a powerful earthquake.

A cornerstone laying ceremony was held Thursday by West Sumatra Governor Irwan Prayitno and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Syamsul Maarif, exactly a year after the province was hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake.

Head of the West Sumatra Road Infrastructure and Transmigration Settlement Office Dody Ruswandi said the administration would rebuild government facilities damaged in the quake using quake-proof construction technologies to ensure their survival in a quake, and so that they could double as refugee centers in the event of an earthquake.

“Since experts have concluded that Padang and the surrounding coastal areas are prone to quakes and tsunami, we must build vertical buildings as well as escape routes from the coast,” he said.

The four-storey building — dubbed as the country’s first Escape Building — would be completed in November next year.

The first two floors of the Rp 46 billion (US$5.1 million) building will be for offices, and the top two floors will serve as shelters for up to 3,500 people in the event of a tsunami.

The walls at the base of the building are designed to collapse inward in the event of a tsunami, leaving the supporting structure intact.

The building incorporates various quake-proof designs, many of which are used in Japan.

It is specially designed to withstand forces 0.5 times greater than gravity in accordance with building standards in Japan and higher than a new regulation for quake-proof buildings in Indonesia that requires a strength rating of 0.4 times the force of gravity.

“The first refugee building built in Indonesia is actually designed to withstand quakes of over 10 on the Richter Scale,” said Dody.

The technology, which has been used in Japan since 1995, will feature in three other new buildings – the Dr. M. Djamil General Hospital in Padang, the Public Works and Transmigration and Settlement Office and the governor’s main office building.

Last year’s quake destroyed 442 office buildings.

The total reconstruction cost could reach Rp 6.4 trillion, including RP 897.4 billion to rebuild the government offices.