Rapid Screening Procedure for Buildings Damaged by Earthquakes: The Need for Retrofitting

Abstract

Right after an earthquake disaster, many universities and or “experts” were performing rapid screening of buildings/facilities damaged during the earthquake. Many of the buildings, houses, were tagged with red labels, which means that those buildings are dangerous, cannot be occupied and should be demolished. Demolishing buildings without thorough analysis is an irresponsible act. The rapid screening of buildings damaged by earthquakes shall be done repeatedly by experts with track records in the field of structural earthquake engineering, utilizing the same criteria and subsequently converting the findings into a well-established scoring system. The damaged buildings must be evaluated, analyzed by acknowledged structural earthquake engineers with track records prior to the final decision. If the analysis showed positive results, the buildings should be retrofitted, and not demolished. Retrofitting of buildings damaged by earthquakes shall be made a culture in Indonesia.