shoddy home renovations may have contributed to italy quake toll
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Shoddy home renovations may have contributed to Italy quake toll

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today Shoddy home renovations may have contributed to Italy quake toll

A woman donates money during a charity event in Piazza
ROME - Arab today

Shoddy, price-cutting renovations, in breach of local building regulations, could be partly to blame for the high death toll from this week’s devastating earthquake in central Italy, according to a prosecutor investigating the disaster.

As questions mount over the deaths of nearly 300 people, prosecutor Giuseppe Saieva indicated that property owners who commissioned suspected sub-standard work could be held responsible for contributing to the quake’s deadly impact.

Saieva, who works in the Rieti region between Rome and the quake’s epicentre, said the tragedy could not simply be filed away as an unavoidable natural disaster.

“If the buildings had been constructed as they are in Japan they wouldn’t have collapsed,” he told La Repubblica.

Within hours of the quake hitting on Wednesday Saieva was in Amatrice, the small mountain town hit hardest by the quake

He is inspecting the damage there before opening a preliminary investigation for possible culpable homicide and causing a disaster.

The crushed partition walls of a collapsed three-storey villa were among the sights that caught his eye. “I can only think it was built on the cheap with more sand than cement,” he said.

A number of engineering and architectural experts have highlighted the widespread use of relatively cheap cement beams for house extensions and renovations as a possible factor explaining why so many buildings collapsed.

Heavy and inflexible, the cement beams become deadly if released by shaking because they will crush older walls beneath them.

“If it emerges that individuals cut corners, they will be pursued and those that have made mistakes will pay a price,” the prosecutor said.

The issue of whether some of the deaths could have been avoided is particularly acute in the Amatrice area because it is so close (50 kilometres, 32 miles) to L’Aquila, which was hit by a 2009 earthquake in which over 300 people perished.

An outcry over the shoddy, corrupt building practices which led to so many buildings in the university city being inadequately prepared for a quake led to the national Civil Protection agency making almost one billion euros (Dh4.41 billion; $1.2 billion) available for upgrading buildings in quake-vulnerable areas.

But the take-up of grants has been low. Critics blame bureaucracy but others maintain that independent-minded villagers will always find the cheapest way of getting their renovations done, whatever the risks.

Some 40 per cent of the Italian population, 24 million people, live in zones vulnerable to earthquakes and the risk that entails has been a subject for the country’s finest minds for centuries.

As early as the first century, an adviser to the emperor Vespasian, Pliny the elder, was making recommendations on how buildings could be designed to withstand tremors.

And the thicker walls and stone piers that are features of many modern-day quake-proof buildings, were also included in plans drawn up by Renaissance architect Pirro Ligorio in the late 16th century, after southern Italy was devastated by an earthquake that caused 2,000 deaths.

Experts however say protecting Italy’s unrivalled artistic and architectural heritage is far from straightforward.

“If we start from the idea of upgrading every old building to comparable safety levels of a modern building built to anti-seismic norms, we have to accept that we will never get there,” said Paolo Bazzurro, a professor in construction techniques at the University of Pavia.

The trend away from traditional wooden roofs and beams is not the only problem: widening window openings and the removal of reinforcing chains embedded in walls have also contributed.

“These things make buildings more vulnerable,” said Bazzurro.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised to rebuild the hilltop villages devastated by the quake. There will be no repeat of a failed attempt to replace the old communities with new towns elsewhere, which happened after L’Aquila.

“There are lots of technically feasible things that can be done and do not require huge interventions,” said Culture Ministry expert Paolo Iannelli.

“Given that towns in the seismic areas have acquired a knowledge of what works over the centuries and generally used the most appropriate materials, it is a question of correcting renovations that have been done over time and have impacted on the resistance of the buildings,” he told AFP.

Better and more regular checks on the impact of rain on foundations would be one area where the state could improve its controls, he added.

For houses built before anti-seismic measures became the norm in 1970, it is relatively easy to install shock absorbers, experts say.

But a comprehensive solution will not come cheap. Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio was asked last week how much it would cost to bring every building in Italy up to modern anti-quake standards. His answer: 360 billion euros

source : gulfnews

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

shoddy home renovations may have contributed to italy quake toll shoddy home renovations may have contributed to italy quake toll



GMT 08:02 2015 Tuesday ,15 September

No snow: Californian water source at 500-year low

GMT 15:25 2018 Wednesday ,14 November

Friedrich Merz vows to steal half of AfD voters

GMT 06:53 2017 Saturday ,18 February

G20 foreign ministers vow to fight poverty in Africa

GMT 14:27 2017 Friday ,10 March

Hypercars mingle with station wagons

GMT 13:13 2011 Friday ,16 December

Hyundai i-oniq Concept for Geneva 2012

GMT 11:53 2011 Monday ,26 September

Guerrero: We’ve got Peruvians dreaming

GMT 18:17 2016 Sunday ,18 December

Iraqi warplanes bomb Daesh warehouses

GMT 16:54 2017 Sunday ,15 January

26 killed as Hadi forces push Houthis back

GMT 04:29 2016 Saturday ,25 June

A New Generation of Robots is Ready for the Market

GMT 12:31 2011 Saturday ,26 November

Google working on OnLive rival for Chrome OS

GMT 23:18 2017 Wednesday ,01 March

Dh4.2m lawsuit against George Wassouf thrown out

GMT 12:57 2018 Tuesday ,09 January

German industrial orders dip in November

GMT 07:18 2018 Sunday ,07 January

Palestinians mark Orthodox Christmas

GMT 02:09 2017 Sunday ,08 January

Downtown Dubai is a place to be on New Year’s Eve

GMT 06:32 2018 Wednesday ,03 January

A Weathered Penny appoints

GMT 10:14 2015 Tuesday ,11 August

Woman drowns in Dubai after father blocks rescue

GMT 13:51 2013 Friday ,25 January

Billy Bragg to get BBC Folk Award

GMT 00:30 2012 Thursday ,27 September

Causes of snoring in pregnancy revealed

GMT 08:30 2016 Sunday ,10 April

War photographer and mother, the woman

GMT 14:06 2012 Thursday ,26 July

Depression linked to artificial light

GMT 05:44 2011 Tuesday ,19 April

New hope for secretive rare animal

GMT 18:53 2012 Tuesday ,27 November

Radio host suspended over anti-Semitism
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday