Every house in Indonesia should have a safe room to protect residents as a precautionary measure against sudden earthquakes, Researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency’s (BRIN’s) Geotechnology Research Center Eko Yulianto said.
“Indonesia still encounters issues with earthquakes, but the primary factor is not the earthquake but the building quality,” he told ANTARA here on Tuesday.
Destruction caused by earthquakes is exacerbated by poor-quality buildings that result in their collapse and caving in on their residents, thereby causing massive loss to life and property, he noted.
To this end, it is important to have a safe room inside a house, so that the residents can protect themselves when earthquakes struck.
During the Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006, the 5.9-magnitude earthquake had destroyed hundreds of thousands of residents’ homes. This was primarily caused by poor-quality buildings.
A similar factor also applied to the Lembang earthquake in 2011 that destroyed 300 houses despite having a magnitude of 3.3.
According to Yulianto, creating a safe room in every residents’ house is something realistic that the people can do.
Safe room could be in the form of a reinforced room, whether it is the bedroom or bathroom, so that it could be used to protect people from the earthquake.
In addition, household furniture, such as a reinforced table and bed, could be placed in a safe room for protection.
If residents encounter financial difficulties in reinforcing their bedroom or bathroom, they could instead replace the safe room by utilizing reinforced household furniture.
By reinforcing such furniture, they would not break or get destroyed when objects fell from above.
Thus, house residents could safely take cover under the reinforced furniture or in the rooms.
Source: Antara News