Earthquake Safe Houses Training for Tsunami Preparedness in West Sumatra

Western parts of Sumatra Island has the potential to hit by big earthquakes that can generate a tsunami. The possible sources of those big earthquakes are located at the subduction zone about 50 km westward of Mentawai Island and seabed fault between Mentawai and Sumatra Island. Since the distance of the sources is not so far, the earthquake may impact severely on the mainland of Sumatra Island. The shaking may damage the buildings, including houses on the Sumatra and Mentawai Islands, shortly before the tsunami comes. Thus, before evacuation from a tsunami, people must first survive from the earthquake. The worst-case may happen if the earthquake-triggered tsunami hit in the night where people are gathering at home. Victims affected by collapsed houses during the earthquake will be unable to evacuate for a tsunami. Therefore, surviving from the earthquake is an absolute requirement before saving themselves from the tsunami. It can be done by building the house or retrofitting the existing houses to be earthquake safer constructions. Many manual books and guidance that contain methods for constructing or strengthening houses for earthquake safer construction have been widely circulated in the community. But in its implementation, the training is needed. Since many houses must be strengthened, all stakeholders, including government, experts, ordinary people, and housebuilders should involve in the process. Above all, the housebuilders are the most important element in building earthquake safer houses. The housebuilder training, including all the stakeholders, has been conducted in Pariaman City, West Sumatra. This paper describes the experiences in conducting and training models of earthquake safer houses. This model can be replicated in other places, particularly along the western side of Sumatra Island

The Influence of Steel Fibers Extracted from Waste Tyre on Properties of Concrete Containing Fly Ash

This article presents the result of an experimental study carried out to investigate the effect of steel fibers extracted from the waste tyre (SFEFWT) on concrete containing fly ash. Steel fibers are extracted from waste tyres by the manual cutting process and cut to 1 inch (25.4mm) length. A number of cylindrical specimens of concrete containing 15% fly ash by replacing cement weight, by having an addition 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1% SFEFWT are casted and tested. The mechanical properties: compressive, tensile and flexural strengths at the age of 28 days are studied for having prepared the concrete. The results show that compressive, tensile and flexural strengths are positively affected by the addition of SFEFWT on the concrete containing fly ash. In addition, more percentage of SFEFWT content on the concrete containing fly ash will give high results for its strength and bonding. Then, the bonding delays the crack growth

EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE INTENSITY RELATIONSHIP FOR RESIDENTIAL HOUSES IN WEST SUMATRA

The Sumatra 30 September 2009 earthquake has damaged hundred thousand buildings in West Sumatra Province. The earthquake is located in 100 km offshore of Padang City, the Capital City of the province. Survey has been conducted to assess the damage of the building in few days after the earthquake. In this survey, the damage of buildings are categorised into 3 level that are heavily, moderate and slightly damages. This paper explores the level damage of building and then the intensity of the shaking in the affected area. Then based on the  coordinate of every building location, the buildings are scattered in  a map together with the intensity level. The relationship between the damage level and intensity for West Sumatra then is developed. This special damage-intensity relation is very important to be used for predicting the damage level due to a specified earthquake. The damage level is needed by The Government to develop an emergency and reconstruction budget plan for earthquake disaster in future.Keywords: earthquake, damage assessment, earthquake intensit