Unlike countries such as Japan or the western United States, which also have cities in fault zones, Italy has few laws requiring buildings to be constructed to be earthquake resistant.It is no exaggeration to say that earthquake engineering would have saved lives in L'Aquila. Some say that it is too expensive to built a building that can withstand an earthquake, and this is true to an extent. Constructing a building to be able to survive a substantial earthquake without requiring major repair work is possible, but hugely expensive. It can only be carried out on major building projects.
Of course, earthquakes often strike in second and third world countries. We have all seen the huge death tolls that resulted from earthqakes in places such as Iran, China and Mexico. In these cases poorer people often live in homes that consist of masonry walls and concrete floors and roofs. Masonry performs appallingly in an earthquake, with even well-built brick buildings weakening to the point of collapse within a matter of seconds. A typical earthquake of 30 seconds or more is more than sufficient to bring a ten ton slab of concrete crashing down into the rooms below.
Clearly earthquake-proofing homes in the third world is not economically viable nor is it practical in logistical terms. However, we must bear in mind that it is not essential for the building itself to actually survive the earthquake. It is sufficient for it to remain intact enough not to kill its occupants. Although it would be a bad situation, most people would still rather survive and be left homeless than to be killed in their beds.
The technology to achieve this has been tried and tested in the third world, and is simple and affordable. The building is built from a series of reinforced concrete pillars. These can be made on site, by putting metal rods vertically and pouring concrete into moulds round them. The concrete roof is then set on top. Finally, the walls are build with normal masonry.
In an earthquake, the masonry walls of this building will crack and be badly damaged, but this is okay as they are not load-bearing. The concrete pillars may crack and bend, but will likely remain standing and hold the roof up. The occupants will not be crushed by the roof and will be able to get out alive.
There is a social justice challenge for us all here. Many people in earthquake zones may not be able to afford to build earthquake-proof homes, but it should be possible with relatively little extra expense to provide homes that will at least allow people to survive an earthquake.
And, of course, similar technology should be made compulsory for all new buildings constructed in Italy as well. I hope this lesson is learned.
