Construction expert Davy Sukamta said last week that well-constructed high-rise buildings
in Jakarta could stand an earthquake up to a magnitude of 8, if the
epicenter was not in Jakarta. However, Ahmad Juhara, an architecture expert from the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian
Association of Architects, said that a lack of emergency procedures
from building management meant that casualties and injuries could still
occur. He suggested that workers should demand their right to safety
and emergency procedures in their office such as standard operational procedures for emergencies and also
evacuation drills. "There should be a person designated to manage emergency situations," and disaster preparations should be included in the
initial stages of building construction and be handled by
certified construction services.
Jakarta was among the cities affected by the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the southern coast of West Java. Office workers rushed out of their buildings through emergency stairwells. "Yesterday's quake had a magnitude of 7.3, if it reached 8.0, which is 10 times bigger, buildings in Jakarta would still stand," said the chairman of the Association of Indonesian Construction Experts, Davy Sukamta. However, Davy said that residential houses were more prone to damage as they were not usually designed to weather earthquakes.
Excerpted from thejakartapost.com.
