Follow the seismic provision of the codes:
Today, The principles of capacity design together with the concepts of ductile behavior allow a safe and cost effective earthquake resistant design.
Today, appropriate official controls and checks are lacking.
The ignorance or disregard of the Seismic provisions of the building codes, result in an inferior building. The reduction in value may include, the costs of retrofitting minus the additional costs that would have been incurred to ensure the seismic Resistance of the building at its design and construction stage.
The designer can be responsible for retrofitting costs, as well as jointly liable with the building owners for the loss of life, injury or for any resulting material damage in the case of an earthquake.
A retrofit generally costs several times more than what it would have cost to ensure adequate Seismic Resistance of the new building.
The building owner, the architect, the engineer, and the authorities should ensure that the seismic provisions of the building codes are strictly enforced, and that appropriate structural calculations and verification are kept with construction documents.
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