SANTO DOMINGO.– In light of the earthquakes that have occurred in countries like Venezuela and, more recently, in Colombia, a question arises among Dominicans: can a cracked structure be saved after an earthquake?
The president of the Dominican Society of Structural Engineers (SINEDOM), civil engineer Maribel Guzmán, spoke with El Inmobiliario about this topic and explained that there are several factors that allow us to determine if a building is in a condition to withstand a seismic movement of great magnitude, such as those that occurred in the aforementioned countries.
“To determine the safety of a building, many factors must be considered: the way it was designed and built, the condition of the soil on which it stands, its configuration, and the level of deterioration it presents,” the engineer stated.
Warns of severe damage to Dominican buildings
Guzmán warned that a severe earthquake could cause significant damage to buildings in the country that already have structural deficiencies or a reduction in their resistance capacity.
“In the event of a severe earthquake that could occur in our country, these structures will not have the capacity for which they were originally designed and could suffer serious damage and even collapse,” he warned.
Maribel Guzmán, president of SINEDOM. (Archive/El Inmobiliario).
Guzmán stated that one of the most obvious signs to determine the level of vulnerability of a building is the presence of structural cracks after an earthquake.
“A structure that already shows signs of significant deficiencies, among the most obvious being structural cracks, is a very unsafe and high-risk building, because its materials and elements no longer have the original resistance capacity,” he explained.
Earthquakes are not the only
The president of SINEDOM pointed out that earthquakes are not the only factors that can cause cracks and deterioration in a building. She also mentioned soil settlement and the corrosion of internal reinforcing bars caused by the passage of time.
“If the building's capacity is exceeded, whether due to previous earthquakes, soil settlement problems, or the deterioration of reinforcing bars that rust, causing the coating on columns or beams to detach or be lost, these elements gradually reduce or lose their load-bearing capacity. This makes the structure more vulnerable to an earthquake,” he stated.
Finally, he explained that to determine if a building has the capacity to withstand an earthquake, it is necessary to carry out specialized evaluations and studies that allow us to know its structural condition.
“We need to conduct structural analyses and surveys to understand the condition of the entire structure. With that information, we can perform analyses for different scenarios and levels of seismic threat, and from there we can identify the deficiencies,” he concluded.
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