Are Dubai’s tall buildings built to withstand an earthquake?

Dubai

Seismic Activity – Desiree Cortes & Grace Núñez

Are Dubai’s tall buildings built to withstand an earthquake? 

Despite what many might assume, partly given the speed at which areas like the Marina and Downtown were built as well as the several fires across the emirate’s skyscrapers of late, experts have confirmed that Dubai’s buildings not only meet the required safety levels but in some cases even over-compensate. Bart Leclercq, head of stuctures design at WSP Middle East – the company behind high-rise buildings such as The Shard in London and the One World Trade Centre in New York, says all of Dubai’s skyscrapers have to meet stringent safety regulations throughout the design process, and simply would not be cleared for construction until they do so.

“Dubai’s buildings are designed to meet Uniform Building Code 97 (UBC) – that’s what designers adhere to,” says Leclercq. "When a structure is being designed, all engineering plans are submitted to an independent engineer who will review and approve the designs. The plans are then sent to the local authorities for further approval. During the process both the original designers and the reviewing party become jointly responsible for the design of the building.”

Global cities and their vulnerability to seismic activity are mapped on what is known as the Seismic Zone Factor, with zones rating from one to four – four being at most risk of a large earthquake and where cities such as Tokyo and California are ranked. 

Natural Disaster- Monica Joubert

Dubai is considered a safe place from natural disasters compared to other cities, but this doesn’t means it is a hundred percent exonerated from it, its biggest problem referring to natural disasters is the occasional sand storm, something not very serious.

Dubai is among the least earthquake threatened zones in the UAE. It is estimated that the maximum magnitude that could ever be registered in Dubai is 4.3 on the Ritcher Scale. In 2013 the Bushehr earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 6.3 on April 9 in Iran, it was felt in Dubai were people evacuated all buildings, but there were no bigger effects.

There was a tropical storm range for 1 minute maximum with sustained winds at 63-118 km/hr. To become Hurricane, at least wind speed should be 120 km/hr (just category 1). It is just rumor for Dubai to be hit by a Cyclone. There is poor visibility on the roads and high levels of dust in the air due to southerly winds coming from Saudi Arabia.

Devastation- Ted Cruz & Jose Luis Aguilera

Since the founding of Dubai, it has not been a rough session due to the lack of devastation occurring in the country. The biggest devastation that occurs occasionally is sand storms and it is very rare that they do any harm at all. Biggest storm that has occurred was on April 2, 2015 the sky was filled with sand causing 135 tragic accidents and 1,600 calls to local emergency services due to people not being able to see what was in front of them. The sand storms normally do not harm the building or people since they are announced before hand and the building are built to withstand sand storms. Yet less than 1 year ago in March 10, 2016 a huge storm approached Dubai, not much harm was done. Due to the strong winds from the storm the airport in Abu Dhabi was closed down and all flights where canceled, the UAE air Expo was also canceled. Dubai is fortunate to not have any catastrophes occur since there founding. 

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