Don: Leave buildings if tremors are felt

Don: Leave buildings if tremors are felt
The Star 30/3/2005

KUALA LUMPUR: The smart thing to do when tremors are felt is to evacuate buildings immediately – that is the view of geologist Prof Ibrahim Komoo.

This, he said, should be standard procedure if tremors are felt due to earthquakes in other countries. “Stay away from the buildings until the situation stabilises,” he added.

The head of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute for Environment and Development said buildings in areas affected by tremors might collapse if they were old or defective.

“Building collapse can also occur where the ground condition is poor, with loose sand and sinkholes. “If the ground condition is good, it will better absorb the vibrations,” he said.

Prof Ibrahim also said that single-storey buildings were less affected by vibrations than high-rise ones. He said the relationship between vibrations and the safety of buildings in the country should be studied.

“There is a need to see the capability of our buildings to withstand such vibrations,” he said. Prof Ibrahim said that yesterday’s earthquake – which registered 8.5 on the Richter scale – showed that the effects of vibrations could be quite frightening, causing many people to evacuate their buildings.

“So far, no buildings have collapsed but if you look carefully, there may be some minor damage such as cracks. “We cannot say there is no possibility of bigger earthquakes occurring,” he said.