The Caribbean Region is seismically active… Time to make building codes enforceable

Aug 26, 2018 AFC Column, Features / Columnists, News

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Last week’s big earthquake in northern Venezuela rattled the nerves and sensibilities of Guyanese, along with our sisters and brothers in the Caribbean. We did not expect it, and we were not made aware of the numerous low-level seismic activities which had been occurring in the hemisphere just before the major shake-up on Tuesday.
Since then, the seismic centre at the University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine Campus, T&T has done a fantastic job of sharing information about earthquakes, tremors and other seismic activities that could negatively affect our ways of life. The Centre reported that it recorded 28 aftershocks as of Friday August 24, and more are expected.
Tuesday afternoon’s tremor occurred smack in the middle of after-work rush hour (5.35 pm) and sent thousands of people scrambling from vehicles, homes, offices, hang-out spots and churches. People were startled and shocked, plain and simple, by a minute-plus earthquake that Guyanese always believed happened in ‘other places’, not in this land of ours. Well, Georgetown and areas a bit inland only felt the tremors, but that was quite enough, thank you.
It should be an eye-opener though. We’re sure that there are a lot of assessments taking place right now among policy makers, Engineers in the construction and engineering industries, the City Council, civil contractors, home owners, the Fire Service, power providers, hardware dealers, insurance companies, and the Civil Defence Commission.
Our greatest concern is the fact that there are many contractors who have not been adhering to our national building codes, and GNBS assures us that many were updated up to two years ago. The national standards cover Fire Safety, Plumbing, Hardwood, Block Masonry, Structural Steel, high rise buildings, foundations, Septic Tanks and latrines. (Go to GNBS Standards Catalogue online).
As such, not all of our buildings could withstand the strength of even the outer bands of a tropical storm, much less a full-fledged hurricane or an earthquake measuring 7.3 that Trinidadians experienced last week.
The time is therefore right now for all the powers that be, and the Engineering Associations and professionals among us, to undertake a comprehensive review of our building codes, construction practices, road building standards for ‘everlasting’ roads, like Guyana used to have; for stringing high and low voltage power transmission and distribution cable; for the construction of radio base stations, antennas and so on.
Climate Change is wreaking all sorts of havoc on our weather systems and eco systems. We cannot wait for disaster to strike before we get cracking with enforcing the standards and codes. There is no time to dawdle. Let’s get it right now!
The standards bureau assures us that the national building codes are under constant review. We say that advancing technologies demand that along with the reviews and efforts to sensitize the public to changes and requirements, the Building codes ought to carry enough weight to make them enforceable. They ought to have some lus standi to make them compulsory.
If we don’t, no one will be sorry if Mother Nature breaches the natural Atlantic barriers that protect Guyana from extreme weather. We hopefully never will have to take action similar to Dominica which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Today they are considering burying power generators and distribution wires underground, and drastically changing the designs for mobile and radio station antennas, all so that the island and people could survive another climatic onslaught.
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley reminded his nation of 1.3 million that he holds a Doctorate in Geology, specializing in Geochemistry. We should pay attention to what he had to say.
“There is a ‘capture zone’ which has been powering up a lot of energy for a long time. One of these days could release it.” He fears the coming of ‘the big one’ and its unpredictable effects. PM Rowley also said that the tremor T&T experienced recently was powerful enough “to have me thinking that this might be it”.
Further to the south in Guyana, many of us made light of the frightening tremors. After all, there were no broken buildings and no accidents, no undulating roads, no sink holes and no fatalities. Some of us still believe Guyana to be invincible, immune from violent weather systems. The truth is that this time we dodged a proverbial bullet, but Seismologists warn of a second quake coming soon.
So, we need no more warning that we have to put all those Standards into enforceable effect. We call on the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers, the Standards Bureau, and policy makers, to commission the drafters of new legislation to deliver the construction industry and its poor victims from the shoddy work we have encouraged for decades.
We heard/read the stories of large chunks of substandard hollow blocks on homes under construction breaking off completely on the East Bank of Demerara in 2017. There was another incident on the East Coast of Demerara in which a home under construction collapsed into a heap of cement dust and ‘new’ crumbling brick.
PM Rowley said that Trinidad is located in an earthquake zone, that there is a fault that runs in the sea bed just north of Tobago called “El Pilar”, and it acts up periodically. We really should be waking up and taking notice, since Guyana is located only 693 kilometres or 431 miles to the south.
Trinidadian Seismologist Dr. Joan Latchman said, “It was the largest earthquake since 1968, but it is not the largest we could have in our area. (It should keep) us aware that our region is seismically active and that strong earthquakes can and will occur”.

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