EARTHQUAKE LESSONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 19 February 1931, Page 9

EARTHQUAKE LESSONS

MENACE OF POOR WORK SOME DANGEROUS FAULTS COMMUNITY’S RESPONSIBILITY The havoc wrought by the earthquake in Hawkes Bay, aided according to authoritative criticism by faults in design and workmanship, should have brought home to the people of New Zealand the need of more stringent control and supervision wherever building operations are being carried on. There are valuable lessons to be learned from this most recent disturbance, and leading architects from all parts of the Dominion have already visited the scene of the disaster to see the effect of unusual stresses on the various types of construction. One of the first to inspect the earthquake area was Mr C. R. Ford, of Auckland, who has long been studying the question of earthquake resisting structures. “A hasty preliminary examination of the buildings in the devastated area amply confirms the experience of previous earthquakes,” said Mr Ford to a “N.Z. Herald” reporter. “It would have been possible to have described the damage without visiting the area. In brief, it may be said that again unintelligent design and bad workmanship have taken toll of life and property. It is distressing to see that buildings erected within the last few years have fallen down like a pack of cards. I think it is not an exaggeration to say that the vast majority of the brickwork has been exceedingly badly built. Bricks have simply fallen apart, showing clean surfaces almost ready for immediate use again as new bricks, showing that the mortar was poor and that the bricks had not been wetted before use, the latter an elementary condition of any good brick building.

ERRORS IN BUILDING “There are, too, the usual errors in building so prevalent in all small towns in New Zealand, that is, buildings with brick exterior walls and flim-.y wooden interior construction. These brick walls were frequently carried to unnecessary heights on the facades for purposes of making a show. There was the same old story of brick gables, brick parapets and brick pediments falling and crushing people beneath them.” Mr Ford sa.’l he had yet to make a further inspection of a few brick buildings which he saw standing, apparently not badly damaged, before miking a definite statement as to brickwork in general. His present feeling, however, was that in the case of a severe shock even well-built low brick buildings would fail if they carried heavy concrete floors and roofs. This, as he had said, needed further investigation. “There were very impressive examples of what I consider one of the most dangerous features of our present construction,” continued Mr Ford. “That is the mass of heavy masonry work in the upper floors of a building carried upon stilts at the ground floor. I do not think this is an unfair description. This is caused not by the wish of architects but quite to the contrary. Architects all desire to 'have piers at the ground floor which not only are sufficient to carry loads, but appear to be so.

DANGER AT THE BASE “The cause of this extremely dangerous class of building is the demand by shopkeepers for every inch of plate glass. To meet this demand even very high buildings are carried upon the most slender columns at the base, where the greatest shock is felt in the case of an earthquake. These columns are frequently solid steel of circular cross section. A column of solid circular section has a larger area of steel than the normal steel stanchion composed of rolled steel joist and plates, but the column of circular section has a considerably lower resistance to bending and is a bad form under earthquake conditions.” In this connection Mr Ford instanced a building in Hastings,.which collapsed and caused the death of many people. A photograph published shows one of the solid steel columns of this building which came down with the weight of masonry above when the earthquake rocked the building. Mr Ford said that every column in this building was bent over to a more or less extent in the direction of the shake. He was convinced that lire had no part in the collapse of these columns as he had been assured by a polico officer on the spot that the columns as he saw them were like that immediately after the shock and before the fire. This danger could not be too strongly emphasised and the public authorities should at once take cognisance of it.

FAULTS IN MANY DIRECTIONS “I cannot help referring to a statement credited to the Mayor of Wellington, an honoured member of our profession. In this statement he said that there should be much heart searching among the architects when the bad workmanship of the buildings at Napier was so apparent. This is considerably less than fair lo the architectural profession, because in Hastings, as in every town in New Zealand, by far the larger proportion of the work is executed without the services of an architect at all. Beyond this, in the very nature of thing architects cannot remain upon the job and see that every brick is wetted' and that the mortar is sound and good. “It must be obvious, as far as workmanship is concerned, where the greater share of the blame must lie. It serves no useful purpose at present, however, to seek for somebody to blame. The fact is that the blame must be laid upon the community ns a whole, which, in spite of frequent warnings of the fact that buildings in New Zealand must be earthquake resisting, 'lias done nothing. Otherwise the building regulations Would have been altered long before this. Then there is the demand on the part of .so many owners for more building than can be honestly given for the money available. Added to these faults there are, of course, those of unintelligent design and bad workmanship. In view of the recent disaster it may be hoped that those connected with the actual business of building will realise that bad design or scamped workmanship is little short of a crime, a crime which may any day result in the loss of lives of fellow citizens.”

TASK OF RECONSTRUCTION ARCHITECTS TO INVESTIGATE An immediate start has been made by the committee set up by the annual conference of the New Zealand In-

stitute of Architects to > inspect the wrecked buildings in Napier and Hastings and make recommendations as to future construction. The members of the committee are to assemble m Napier this evening anil an immediate start will be made on the investigations. Three Auckland architects are on the committee, Messrs F. L. Moodie, G. R. Ford and R. Lippineott. The other members are Messrs C. H. Mitchell, Butcher and F. E. Greenish, all of Wellington, and the president of the institute, Mr IT. Mandeno, of Dunedin.