Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200806/20080618/article_363672.htm
Beijing checks skyscrapers to ensure they are quake proof
Created: 2008-6-18 15:58:34
Author:Lydia Chen
BEIJING has checked 58 skyscrapers and other big buildings to ensure they are earthquake proof in the wake of the quake that has killed nearly 70,000 people in Sichuan Province, Xinhua news agency reported today.
The city-wide probe earlier this month included new landmarks such as the National Stadium and the leaning towers of the new headquarters for China Central Television Station, the report said, citing Beijing Municipal Construction Committee.
"Beijing has attracted architects from around the world in recent years," an official with the committee told Xinhua. "However, as many of them come from places that seldom have earthquakes, their fancy designs are unusual and sometimes beyond the existing design criteria."
The committee will soon release the results of the building checks.
The committee pledged that all future high-rises in the capital would receive quake-proof checks in the design stage, which will be a key factor in approving new constructions.
Quake-proof capability will also be taken into consideration for approval on reconstruction and renovation of houses and other buildings, the committee said.
Buildings in downtown Beijing and nearby suburbs were required to be able to resist an 8.0-magnitude earthquake after a 7.6-magnitude temblor claimed more than 240,000 lives in neighboring Tangshan City in Hebei Province in 1976.
The National Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the August Beijing Olympics, is renowned for its giant twig-like structure of metal girders and its bowl-shaped roof. Covering an area of 20.4 hectares, it can seat 91,000 spectators for the Olympics.
The stadium can withstand a 10-magnitude earthquake, according to previous reports.
CCTV towers, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, was another main target in this month's check, the report said.
The towers, one is 234 meters and the other 194 meters, lean six degrees and they form the main building for a complex that has a floor space of 495,900 square meters.
Shoddy houses and buildings have been blasted as key causes behind the deaths of thousands of people, including students, in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan.
The catastrophe, the worst in China in more than three decades, prompted public calls for the government to take actions to make sure homes, buildings and classrooms are safe.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development vowed to carry out thorough checks on all school buildings throughout the country, the ministries said in a statement last week.
In Shanghai, engineers who have returned from the Sichuan earthquake-hit areas have called on the city government to launch a citywide assessment and reinforcement of school and public buildings.
The assessment should focus on structures built before 1993, when the city's construction standards were adopted, said Lu Xilin, head of Tongji University's structural engineering and disaster reduction research institute.
Lu led a team of six to Qingchuan, one of the hardest-hit areas of Sichuan.
Buildings at kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and university campuses should receive top priority in the assessment, followed by other important structures such as government offices, public facilities and residential buildings, Liu said
Before 1989, buildings were not constructed with the ability to resist an earthquake. But buildings erected from 1990 to 1991 were designed with an anti-quake level of magnitude 6.0.
The level was raised to magnitude 7.0 in 1992. However, it was not until the Shanghai seismic resistance standard was issued in November 2003 that the 7-magnitude level was made mandatory for all buildings.
The city-wide probe earlier this month included new landmarks such as the National Stadium and the leaning towers of the new headquarters for China Central Television Station, the report said, citing Beijing Municipal Construction Committee.
"Beijing has attracted architects from around the world in recent years," an official with the committee told Xinhua. "However, as many of them come from places that seldom have earthquakes, their fancy designs are unusual and sometimes beyond the existing design criteria."
The committee will soon release the results of the building checks.
The committee pledged that all future high-rises in the capital would receive quake-proof checks in the design stage, which will be a key factor in approving new constructions.
Quake-proof capability will also be taken into consideration for approval on reconstruction and renovation of houses and other buildings, the committee said.
Buildings in downtown Beijing and nearby suburbs were required to be able to resist an 8.0-magnitude earthquake after a 7.6-magnitude temblor claimed more than 240,000 lives in neighboring Tangshan City in Hebei Province in 1976.
The National Stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the August Beijing Olympics, is renowned for its giant twig-like structure of metal girders and its bowl-shaped roof. Covering an area of 20.4 hectares, it can seat 91,000 spectators for the Olympics.
The stadium can withstand a 10-magnitude earthquake, according to previous reports.
CCTV towers, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, was another main target in this month's check, the report said.
The towers, one is 234 meters and the other 194 meters, lean six degrees and they form the main building for a complex that has a floor space of 495,900 square meters.
Shoddy houses and buildings have been blasted as key causes behind the deaths of thousands of people, including students, in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan.
The catastrophe, the worst in China in more than three decades, prompted public calls for the government to take actions to make sure homes, buildings and classrooms are safe.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development vowed to carry out thorough checks on all school buildings throughout the country, the ministries said in a statement last week.
In Shanghai, engineers who have returned from the Sichuan earthquake-hit areas have called on the city government to launch a citywide assessment and reinforcement of school and public buildings.
The assessment should focus on structures built before 1993, when the city's construction standards were adopted, said Lu Xilin, head of Tongji University's structural engineering and disaster reduction research institute.
Lu led a team of six to Qingchuan, one of the hardest-hit areas of Sichuan.
Buildings at kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and university campuses should receive top priority in the assessment, followed by other important structures such as government offices, public facilities and residential buildings, Liu said
Before 1989, buildings were not constructed with the ability to resist an earthquake. But buildings erected from 1990 to 1991 were designed with an anti-quake level of magnitude 6.0.
The level was raised to magnitude 7.0 in 1992. However, it was not until the Shanghai seismic resistance standard was issued in November 2003 that the 7-magnitude level was made mandatory for all buildings.
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