At 21:19:46 on August 8, a earthquake of 7.0 occurred in Jiuzhaigou County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province(33.20 degrees north latitude, 103.82 degrees E), with a depth of 20km.
As of 10:00 on August 11, according to a written report by the Jiuzhaigou County Emergency response Office, the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Zhangza Town, Jiuzhaigou County, has killed 20 people (14 of the victims have been identified and 6 are in the process of being verified) and 493 have been injured (45 seriously injured, 56 seriously injured and 392 slightly injured).
It is understood that 96 per cent of the victims of the earthquake died as a result of the collapse of buildings. In addition to the population density, different construction quality directly affects and determines the number of victims in the earthquake. As more and more Chinese emigrate to Australia, Chinese people also have a lot of questions about Australia`s house seismic ability.
So, what`s the quality of Australia`s real estate? What is the difference between the construction of Australia and the quality of the house in China? Do Australia also suffer from earthquakes? If there is an earthquake in Australia, is the life and property of the compatriots in Australia safe?
Australia is not an earthquake belt, and the prevention of hurricanes has become the focus of house architecture.
From the point of view of geological structure, Australia does not belong to seismic zone.
But Australia has recorded nearly 3600 earthquakes in the past decade, a number that sounds a little scary, and in fact, statistically, Australia is one of the hardest places in the world to have devastating earthquakes. One of the worst earthquakes in Australian history was the Newcastle earthquake in Year Nineteen Eighty-nine, with a magnitude of 5.6, killing 13 people, death.
Victor Li, a prominent Melbourne real estate developer, said in an interview with journalist: "Australian departments have placed more emphasis on building windproof, such as the strong wind in Victoria, so government requires builders to consider the pressure of the wind when building house, and there are clear regulations on the wind-proof index. At the same time, in recent years, government for house fire prevention issues also have clear provisions. And Victor Li also said: "as for earthquake protection, as far as I know, there is no special emphasis."
Melbourne licensed architect Jason Oskar also said: "in the course of my study and practice, I did not hear that the construction of house here needs to consider shock protection, but there are specific regulations on the size and depth of the foundation."
This has also been confirmed by Victor. "the focus of Australian architecture is not on earthquake protection, but on phenomena such as foundation subsidence."
Follow the British architectural system and strictly control every process of house architecture
It is understood that in Australia, house builders have very strict requirements. There are generally no education requirements, but they are required to have a specialist certificate and 3 years of work experience. At the same time, they must be recommended by someone who is already an architect.
For high-rise buildings, government has stricter requirements and audits for constructors, in addition to having to be a member of the Building Association, there are many very detailed provisions. Australia has followed the British building system, and their building technology is excellent all over the world. House here is generally considered in terms of a hundred years of useful life, so it is often heard that house in Australia pursues a `centenary plan`. From this point of view, we can completely rest assured of the safety of house in Australia.
In Australia, no matter what kind of house is built by any kind of architect, it is supervised by the exclusive personnel of the supervision office of the municipal hall. Usually, they monitor a house under construction three times. When laying the foundation for the first time, they will ensure that the builder has cut corners in the selection of materials and whether or not to follow the specifications, mainly to see if the amount of steel bar emissions is enough; The second time, when installing wooden frames, check whether the installation of electricity, gas, water and other pipelines is safe and meet the requirements; the last time, in order to ensure the safety of households, they will once again check whether there are hidden dangers in hydropower routes, including whether there is leakage of water pipes, and so on.
Most of the houses in Australia are wooden in structure.
In an interview with journalist, a senior house architect in Melbourne said: "Civil buildings in Australia are generally wooden, some are brick and wood, while high-rise buildings are generally reinforced concrete or steel. For example, buildings above ten stories in the center of the city are basically reinforced concrete structures.
Mr. Hu, head of Melbourne BAO Engineering Building Materials Company, told journalist: "as far as I know, government does not make specific provisions on the seismic coefficient of civil buildings, but the quality of building materials is very strict. What kind of building should use that kind of material, there are relevant regulations, these can be queried in the relevant departments."
Through understanding, we can know that the overall quality of house in Australia is relatively safe.
First of all, the audit requirements for builders, building materials suppliers, designers and mechanical engineers are very strict in the industry.
Secondly, according to the regulations, civil buildings generally advocate the use of "light building materials." First, try not to use reinforced concrete and heavy materials; second, civil buildings with more than two floors must use light building materials, such as foam and thin cement slabs, above the first floor. On the one hand, cost savings, second, once encountered disasters such as earthquakes, no heavy objects, the general gypsum board is not dead. Because Australian house is wooden frame with a small amount of brick structure, even if wood and brick are separated, wood structure house will not collapse easily because of its good toughness and mutual effort.
