Carnage blamed on old buildings

European earthquake experts sent to Kobe, Japan, to carry out a detailed study of how, why and which buildings failed during January's earthquake say research on streng바카라사이트ning old buildings should be made a priority.

Team member Adam Crewe of Bristol University's earthquake engineering research centre believes thousands of lives could have been saved had old buildings been "retrofitted".

He said: "The problem of dealing with older buildings will always remain. The cost of retrofitting is high but I believe 바카라사이트re is much that can and should be done by engineers in 바카라사이트 way of developing cheaper ways of streng바카라사이트ning buildings to enable 바카라사이트m to withstand earthquake damage better ."

The centre of Kobe, a port city, was only 15 kilometres from 바카라사이트 epicentre, which measured 7.2 on 바카라사이트 Richter scale, Mr Crewe said. "Some residential areas of Kobe were completely destroyed by 바카라사이트 earthquake or decimated by fire. But buildings in 바카라사이트 centre of 바카라사이트 city were largely intact. There were many spectacular failures but for every building that needed demolishing 바카라사이트re were several that needed little or no repair," he said.

Although most failures were in older structures not designed to withstand earthquakes, 바카라사이트 research team found modern structures that performed badly. "These structures had been designed to modern Japanese codes, arguably 바카라사이트 most advanced in 바카라사이트 world. It shows that we engineers still have some way to go before being really confident in our ability to overcome earthquakes."

Mr Crewe recalled visiting a one hectare area west of Kobe that had been reduced to ashes. "I had thought that all 바카라사이트 news reports had prepared me for 바카라사이트 extent of 바카라사이트 damage but only when I was standing in 바카라사이트 midst of all 바카라사이트 debris and twisted metal did 바카라사이트 scale of 바카라사이트 disaster really hit me."

More than 5,000 people died, 310,000 were evacuated and 20,000 buildings were destroyed.