The reliefs in Tama 38 - Risk of human life
The reliefs in Tama 38 - Risk of human life
An expert committee of the Standards Institute warns the Ministry of the Interior that approving construction additions to buildings as part of strengthening them against earthquakes is dangerous.
The members of the expert committee for testing and strengthening existing buildings for earthquake loads of the Standards Institute warn that the addition of building rights within the framework of the national outline plan for strengthening buildings against earthquakes is dangerous.
In a letter sent by committee members, headed by the chairman of the standardization committee, engineer Yaron Ofir, to Doron Kuperman, director of planning administration at the Ministry of the Interior, the members of the committee demanded not to approve an addition of 2.5 floors as an incentive for entrepreneurs within the TMA.
Photo: Tomer Applebaum
The members of the committee, which was recently appointed at the Standards Institute to examine and update an Israeli standard for assessing the resistance of existing buildings to earthquakes and strengthening them, wrote, among other things: "We believe that the initiative to add 2.5 floors to each existing building has far-reaching engineering implications that have not been discussed at all and contains a considerable engineering risk. Due to the significant increase that will apply to the vertical loads and the horizontal loads that will act on the building during the earthquake. As far as we know, the initiative at hand does not rely on any recognized experience in the world and it is not at all clear that the benefit that will arise from the initiative is significantly greater than the risk that it will cause to the buildings."
The members of the committee even emphasized that today there is no dedicated standard in Israel that includes clear guidelines for strengthening buildings against earthquakes, and on the other hand, planning a strengthening that includes adding a particularly high load on an old structure is "sensitive and dangerous and requires knowledge and expertise beyond the tools available to the engineer."
In the estimation of the members of the committee, approving the addition of rights in a sweeping manner without limitations and relying only on the existing standards and the available engineering knowledge, borders on risking human life.
In conclusion, the committee argued that despite the entrepreneurial model, and the need for the entrepreneur's profitability, the strengthening is a distinct engineering issue and therefore they ask Kuperman not to allow a decision to be made regarding the increase of construction additions on existing buildings, before the engineering discussion is exhausted and the conclusions are presented to the statutory committees by experts in the field.
The Chamber of Engineers and Architects and the Union of Construction and Infrastructure Engineers gave reinforcement to the letter of the committee members. The chairman of the union, Israel David, sent his own letter to Koperman in which he presented the union's support for the position of the committee members and even stated that "We believe and are confident that the proposed change to add two and a half floors to existing buildings will not only advance the implementation of TAMA 38 But it will cause it to be delayed and also cause an increase in the risk of the buildings being resistant to earthquakes."
Link to the article:
https://www.themarker.com/realestate/2011-03-23/ty-article/0000017f-e208-d75c-a7ff-fe8d2f100000