Dubais buildings are designed to meet Uniform Building Code 97 (UBC) thats 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.
According to UBC 97, Dubai ranks below zone one. Despite this, Dubai Municipality requires that all
buildings across the emirate are designed to higher zone safety levels.
Leclercq confirmed that Dubais buildings are constructed in accordance with a zone factor 2a
rating. In other words, Dubais skyscrapers are not only prepared for an earthquake, they are slightly
over designed.
Classifying Dubai as a 2A is on the conservative side. Theyre all pretty well covered. Dubais
buildings can withstand an earthquake measuring around 6 to 6.5 on the Richter scale [the tremors
in the UAE on Tuesday measured at between four and five].
Yesterday was a heavy one for Dubai standards, it could be a while before we see another one. The
likeliness of a big quake hitting Dubai is extremely low, says Leclercq.
Office workers in high-rise buildings would undoubtedly have felt the swaying and shaking caused by
the tremors on Tuesday. But movement is good each building has its own level of stiffness and
some minimal movement is compensated for.
Every building has a little bit of sway and every building has a certain stiffness that is related to the
structural system, Leclercq says.

A big core in the middle of the building works together with columns on the outside and together
they give a building its stiffness. Usually depending on the height of the building you can predict how
great that stiffness needs to be.
Leclercq explains when a building moves back and forth in one swaying motion, the time it takes to
make one full sway is known as the period and the higher a building is the longer the period may
last.
A general rule of thumb is if a tall building is designed well, you count the total number of floors,
divide that number by 10 and that gives you an idea of what the period of that building should be.
That means if you were in the worlds tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai on
Tuesday afternoon, the movement would have been subtle.
I think you would probably feel it less, Leclercq says. You have around 200 floors when you
include the spire at the top, so its period would be 20 seconds. That means it would take one minute
to rock back and forth three times.
Leclerq commented that he watched a video recently taken from within the Burj Khalifa while a
thunderstorm raged outside. He counted 12 seconds for each period, meaning that the structure is
extremely stiff and safer than is required, from a structural point of view.
I was delighted when I saw the video. The Burj Khalifa is even stiffer than I thought it would be,
twice as stiff almost. It is a fantastic structure.