[whiteperil] Sean: A broken frame

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Sean:
A broken frame
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1157261854.shtml


   Since the Aneha scandal broke last year, federal officials have
   manifested a charming capacity for surprise. The [1]latest shock:

     The infrastructure ministry, stunned to learn that builders rarely
     bother to scrutinize architectural blueprints, will require that
     they do so for all new wooden homes to make sure the structures are
     quake-proof, officials said.
     They said builders must study the design plans before construction
     starts after learning that such procedures are rarely observed
     these days.
     The ministry was so shocked at the finding that it decided to
     rescind an exemption put in place 22 years ago to allow builders to
     skip such checks.
     The move comes on the heels of recent disclosures about a Tokyo
     company that built and sold nearly 700 wooden homes with
     substandard earthquake resistance, officials said.
     ...
     Even more surprising was a finding by a cooperative association for
     quake-proof strength on wooden buildings, whose members are mostly
     medium- and small-sized builders.
     It said that 62 percent of about 24,000 wooden homes it surveyed
     were not strong enough to withstand an earthquake even though they
     were put up in or after 1981, when quake-proof standards were
     tightened.

   Is it really that surprising that construction companies would skip a
   step they'd been expressly exempted from having to execute? The Aneha
   scandal [2]demonstrated that not even civil servants whose explicit
   responsibility was to verify structural calculations roused themselves
   to do so.
   The wooden building problem is a big deal, of course. Despite the
   folksy belief that wood-framed buildings are less likely to collapse
   in earthquakes because their flexible joints and organic materials
   allow them to flop around in harmony with Gaia until she settles
   down--seriously, you hear that from people here all the time--the fact
   is that wooden buildings have to be very well engineered to be safe.
   And when they do collapse, they're more likely to tip over than are
   buildings of rebarred concrete, which makes them more dangerous for
   the neighbors.

References

   1. http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200609020154.html
   2. http://www.whiteperil.com/posts/1133068778.shtml