Most houses in rural areas cannot withstand even moderate
earthquakes, so the China Seismological Bureau has pledged to help
in rebuilding and retrofitting them in the coming years.
"We will launch more pilot projects throughout the countryside
in the next five years, which will enable structures to resist
earthquakes measuring up to 6 on the Richter scale," Du Wei, vice
director of the bureau's Seismic Hazard Prevention and Mitigation
Department, told China Daily in Beijing yesterday.
The bureau has yet to conduct a nationwide survey of rural
homes' quake-proof status, but sampling in western China indicated
at least 80 percent of the buildings do not have the least defense
against possible tremors, Du said.
Speaking on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Tangshan
Earthquake in Hebei Province which leveled tens of thousands
of buildings and killed at least 240,000 people, Du said that in
many areas, farmers could not afford to build safer houses, like
those completely of bricks.
In addition to economic factors, the situation is partly
attributable to lack of guidance from the government, the official
conceded.
Even when affluent rural dwellers can afford to build better
homes, many go for aesthetics rather than scientific design to
withstand quakes, Du said. As a result, it is not rare that an
earthquake measuring 6 would devastate a huge number of houses, he
said.
Sometimes, even a minor quake like the one which measured 4.2 on
the Richter scale that shook Sanshui region of south China's Guangdong Province in 1997 could cause severe
losses, the official said. More than 1,600 houses were destroyed
then.
But homes properly designed and reinforced make a difference, Du
said, citing the experience of the Datong-Yanggao region in north
China's Shanxi Province, where houses were rebuilt to
resist strong earthquakes after it was rocked by a temblor
measuring 6.1 in 1989.
The buildings in the region survived a subsequent 5.8 earthquake
two years later, according to Du.
In addition to educating farmers, seismology agencies will work
with local governments to launch more pilot quake-proof housing
projects and provide technical services, Du said.
Vice minister of Construction Huang Wei said his ministry
supports the idea of improving houses to withstand not only
earthquakes, but also other natural disasters such as landslides,
floods and typhoons.
(China Daily July 27, 2006)