Experts warn Jakarta not ready for big quake
Experts warn Jakarta not ready for big quake
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A earthquake on Wednesday jolted Jakarta and raised concerns
that tall buildings in the capital city could be very vulnerable
to larger earthquakes, experts said.
"Most buildings in Jakarta are not ready to deal with big
earthquakes," Heru Sri Naryanto, a senior official in the Agency
for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) told The
Jakarta Post on Friday.
An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, with an
epicenter about 300 kilometers southwest of the capital, hit on
Wednesday afternoon. No damage or fatalities were reported here.
Many Jakartans were unaware of the jolt, which according to
the National Earthquake Center (PGN) lasted for about 30 seconds
at 2:40 p.m.
The tremor was felt mainly by those working or residing in
tall buildings.
Naryanto, head of the BPPT's Disaster Mitigation Technology
Department, said that if a big earthquake had its epicenter near
Jakarta, many tall buildings in Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman,
both in Central Jakarta, would likely collapse.
"Old buildings such as the Sarinah building, the Chandra
building and Ministry of Religious Affairs building could not
stand earthquakes for long, because the land has become weak over
the years," he said.
He said that the land had lost its strength because of
enormous groundwater depletion.
But after all, he said, it all depends on the people. The
society should have higher awareness about the importance of the
underground water reservoirs. The building owners and managers
should prioritize the physical safety of their property. The city
administration should be harsher in supervising and monitoring
the safety standard of every building.
Placidus Petrus, country coordinator for the National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA), an international codes and
standards organization, told the Post that many buildings in the
city did not meet the minimum international safety standards, let
alone earthquake standards.
"The building owners often neglect the standard of pipe
installments, therefore they ignore the risk calculation of an
earthquake," he said.
Earthquakes usually cause fractures in building foundations,
crack walls and destroy carelessly installed pipes, which could
cause many fires, and create more casualties in a disaster, he
said.
He warned that malls around the city were not safe either.
"Mall builders always propose excellent designs with good
safety standards, but when it comes to implementation, the
standards are forgotten," he said.
In addition earthquake safety standards were rarely even
considered and "smaller" disasters like a fire was considered
minor by the management, he said.
He suggested that visitors should always be alert in every
building, especially in malls, and always memorize the emergency
exit routes because the security guards in those places are not
ready to deal with evacuations, he said.