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Fauzi: Jakarta can withstand massive quake

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo assured Jakartans on Monday that in the event of a massive earthquake, tall buildings in the city could withstand the wrath of Mother Nature

Andreas D. Arditya (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, March 15, 2011

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Fauzi: Jakarta can withstand massive quake

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akarta Governor Fauzi Bowo assured Jakartans on Monday that in the event of a massive earthquake, tall buildings in the city could withstand the wrath of Mother Nature.

Fauzi said the city government had enforced the same standards as had been applied to Japanese high-rises.

“We apply certain standards in our engineering designs, the same that are applied by industries in Japan. So, in theory our buildings will have a similar resistance to buildings in Japan,” said Fauzi, who holds a doctoral degree in engineering from a German university.

Fauzi was confident that tall buildings in the city could withstand powerful earthquakes.

“We know we can withstand earthquakes measuring up to 8 on the Richter scale, but we still need to know whether the buildings can also stand against the horizontal force created by a tsunami,” Fauzi said.

To better prepare the city for a catastrophic disaster, Fauzi said that he had instructed the City Disaster Mitigation Agency to closely watch the Japanese quake and hold meetings with civil engineering experts to obtain their views.

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake — the most powerful quake in the history of modern Japan — hit the country’s northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-meter tsunami that killed thousands of people.

Indonesian Institute of Architects chairman Endy Subijono backed up Fauzi’s claim, saying that the majority of tall buildings in Jakarta had better engineering designs than those of other cities in the country.

“The city government has imposed stricter regulations and conditions for the construction of high-rise buildings,” Endy told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

We built this city: Several skyscrapers stand tall behind Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Governor Fauzi Bowo said Monday that most of the high-rise buildings in Jakarta were safe from earthquakes. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama He said that before construction on building projects began, contractors were required to secure permits from a city-sanctioned team of architects. Contractors also need to obtain permits from teams tasked by the city government to monitor building construction.

Endy said most buildings in Jakarta could likely withstand serious earthquakes, albeit in different capacities.

“Some buildings can withstand an 8-magnitude quake, while others could outlast a 6 or 7 point magnitude quake, but on average buildings in downtown Jakarta can survive a 6-magnitude quake,” he said.

Endy, however, said that in the event of a quake, what matters most was not the strength of the buildings, but the preparedness of its occupants.

“People in high-rise buildings should have more evacuation drills and learn more about standard procedures for emergencies,” he said.

Jakarta was among the cities in Java affected by the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the southern coast of West Java in September 2009.

A number of people were injured as office workers in high-rises panicked and rushed to evacuate.
Phone lines also went down for several minutes as a result of the quake.

Data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) says that Jakarta is currently located in Zone III on the agency’s earthquake zoning map, which means that if a large quake hits Java’s southern coastline, Jakarta will most likely experience a maximum vibration frequency of no more than four on the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale.

The 9.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Aceh in December 2004, which caused a tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people, was recorded at nine on the MMI scale.

The agency, however, warned that due to continuous movement of tectonic plates, Jakarta will not always be located in Zone III.

Ahmad Juhara of the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Association of Architects said after the West Java quake, buildings in Jakarta would still stand even if the quake reached 8.0 on the Richter scale.

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) laboratory for earth hazards has warned that Jakarta has never truly stood on safe ground.

A large quake hit the city in 1699, causing massive devastation.

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