Eight Algerian cities most vulnerable to violent earthquakes
Photo: archives
National Center for Studies and Researches prepared a detailed report through which it warned of the random building of houses in Algeria, making them prone to fall and collapse, especially with the massive seismic activity in Algeria in recent years, as it included Eight cities in the list of very dangerous and the most prone to violent earthquakes, and that can repeat scenarios of Boumerdes (eastern Algiers) and Chlef (western Algeria).
Same center developed new conditions for building and construction of new houses in line with the nature of the climate of each region in Algeria.
Plan that was prepared by the center carries a new map that was proposed by the Ministry of Housing, related to the construction of houses that take into account the climate characterization of each region in Algeria, whether it’s about earthquakes or floods or fires, with the placement of all the buildings to technical and legal standards, including studying and choosing the ground on which houses are accomplished, and the application of the Building Code, by isolating the building from the ground and the soil, because this technology, which is not applied to all buildings, can reduce the strength of the quake, which decreases with the construction, just as is the case with Algeria’s Grand Mosque, which is being built according to the anti-seismic standards, a program that was adopted in many developed countries.
Pilot project for housing is designed by the National Center for Studies and Integrated Research of Building, after many studies that were classified in Eight cities within the map locations that are threatened with the seismic activity, and that are listed in the box of very dangerous and most vulnerable to violent earthquakes, and that can restore the scenario of Boumerdes 2003, as it classified new municipalities in Algiers among the areas that will notice massive active earthquakes, like Ain Naadja, Dararia, Bir Khadem, and Sehaoula based on the nature of the location.
Regarding the standards that are adopted in analyzing the dangers for large companies, the center adopted an analysis of the potential effects on the population in case of natural disasters and the ways of organization the security of locations, as well as describing the places that are adjacent to the projects and the vicinity which that can be damaged in case of an accident that includes physical, geological, hydrogen and climate data, besides the natural conditions along the lines of topographical and the extent of exposure to earthquakes, particularly as the seismic activity that is recorded in Algeria, according to figures by the Center for Research in Seismology and Astronomy and Geophysics, during the past 12 years, IE between 1998 and 2012, show that 8.000 earthquakes, as the number rises in 2014 to 10.000 earthquakes, an average of three earthquakes everyday, and 100 earthquakes every month, which confirms that Algeria actually is threatened with more violent earthquakes in the future.