Page 69 - Jabalpur_EQ

Chapter 3 Brick Masonry & Reinforced Concrete Buildings

Figure 3-23. Severely damaged residential units in Eastland, OFK, primarily
due to inferior construction.

Inferior Construction

Earthquakes are known to expose the mistakes and errors committed in the con-
struction work, poor workmanship, quality of building material used, and the
overall co-ordination of the project. The inferior quality of construction may not
have triggered the failure of structures, but they definitely made them more vul-
nerable to greater damage. Cheaply built residential quarters in the Eastland of
the OFK campus illustrate this fact. Almost all of these two storey brick masonry
units were severely damaged beyond repair, and some of them were at the point
of collapse (Fig. 3-23). These units were constructed some thirty years ago during
a period of extra austerity and cost reduction.

Use of inferior construction material had probably intensified the structural dam-
age seen in buildings built by private builders and Madhya Pradesh Housing
Board (MPHB). The duplexes and flats by private builders in Amanapura area,
Kamala Nagar, Nav Adarsh Colony on Garha road and in many other parts of
city were seriously damaged. Similarly, in Govind Bhavan area majority of build-
ings constructed by MPHB were extensively damaged where many privately
built structures in surrounding areas survived the earthquake with significantly
low level of damage.

Jabalpur Earthquake of May 22, 1997 59