HouseSpouse

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GROUP MEMBERS: MARCUS CHANDRA, LARRY CHEUNG, IVAN LEE
Place of Building: Sumatra, Indonesia

Information of Sumatra, Indonesia

Indonesia has a population of 261 million people and is extremely diverse with more than 300 regional
languages. Sumatra, Indonesia is a large Indonesian island located at the west of Java and South of the
Malay Peninsula. It is the largest island located entirely in Indonesia and the sixth-largest island in the
world. Sumatra is an island in Indonesia that is highly susceptible to earthquakes and because it is so
poverty-stricken, the earthquake prevention methods put in place are not enough to protect civilians and
villagers. One of the biggest earthquakes Sumatra has experienced took place on December 26, 2004,
with a magnitude of 9.2 killing 227,898 people and displacing 1.7 million more in the Pacific region, it is
ranked the 4th largest earthquake in the world since 1990.

Indonesia’s LEDC Profile

Indonesia is a less economically developed country, considered one of the big emerging markets in the
world. Indonesia exports many of the world’s primary products as it has an abundance of resources- such
as petrol gas, palm oil(found in many food products), crude oil, copper, gold and tin (used all over the world
to mass-produce a variety of technologies like our mobile phones).
In-depth LEDC-MEDC comparison with key
indicators:
Indonesia (LEDC)
Criteria 2012 2017 Change Evaluation

GDP per capita (USD) $3687.95 $3846.86 4.3% Comparing to United States’ GDP per
Capita, Indonesia’s is minuscule. This
big difference shows how far away
Indonesia is from becoming a MEDC
with a strong economy.

Mean years of 7.4 8.0 8.1% Given that Indonesia has a 12 years
schooling education system structure, this tells
us that as of now the average
Indonesian doesn’t finish their
secondary education, proving how
Indonesian education is insufficient
and behind. This indicates poverty
and inadequate access to quality
education.

Unemployment Rate 4.47% 4.18% -6.4% Though its unemployment rate is

lower than that of US’, it could just
because of the smaller population,
allowing for more jobs and
employment, also the change in
unemployment rate is much less than
US’.

Literacy (Adults age 92.81% 95.38% 3.57%

15 and above)

Life-Expectancy (Yrs) 68.51 69.3 1.2% Indonesia’s life expectancy rate is

certainly not desirable, ranked 139 on
the world rankings of countries with
highest life expectancy rates, even
lower than the likes of Micronesia.
This could be due to the poor
medicare and quality of life.

Death Rates (per 7.08 7.1 0.2% Poor health care, widespread diseases
1000 population) such as Malaria. Shows that only very
few people have access to a (good)
doctor (such as the more wealthy).

Infant Mortality (age 25.4
1 or under deaths per
1000 live births)
21.4 -15.7% Though change is indicated, the
overall rate of infant mortality is still
much higher than MEDC standards,
suggesting poverty and inadequate
access to healthcare.
 Doctors/ Physicians 0.2 N/A N/A Low physicians density rate means
density (doctors per there are a critically low amount of
1000 people) generalists and medical specialists in
the country, indicating inadequate
access to healthcare and doctors.

United States (MEDC)

Criteria 2012 2017 Change Evaluation

GDP per capita $51,450.96 $59,531.66 15.7% United States’ GDP per capita
(USD) surpasses that of Indonesia’s
drastically, indicating a much stronger
economy. We can also observe
continuous strong economic growth
from the 15.7% increase.

Mean years of 13.2 13.4 1.5% The United States also has a 12 years
schooling education system leading up to
university. The data shows that the
average US student finishes a
secondary education, and the main
reason that the average rate stops a
year after secondary education, is
because almost half of US college
students drop out.

Unemployment Rate 8.1% 4.4% -45.7% Though its unemployment rate is

higher than that of Indonesia’s, the
unemployment rate in the U.S has
decreased dramatically by 45.9%,
which indicates that the U.S has a
good and drastically improving
economy.

Literacy ( Adults age N/A N/A N/A Unesco does not report the U.S.
15 and above) literacy rate

Life-Expectancy (Yrs) 78.74 79.5 9.7% United States’ relatively high average
life expectancy indicates a higher
quality of life, adequate healthcare-
access, good employment etc.

Death Rates (per 8.3 8.1 -2.4% Though it’s more than Indonesia’s,
1000 population) again it could be because of the
unproportional population.

Infant Mortality (age 6.1 5.7 -6.5% Much lower infant mortality rate than
1 or under deaths per Indonesia, meaning healthier parents,
 1000 live births) less birth defects, more financially
stable households.

Doctors/ Physicians 2.55 2.65 3.9% Better educated citizens, Larger

density (doctors per workforce on the medical frontier,
1000 people) better access to healthcare.

Conclusion:
It suffices to say when compared to MEDC’s such as the US, in most aspects Indonesia is inferior and
generally is not a wealthy country, especially when we’re talking about Sumatra, a seriously poverty-
stricken island in Indonesia.

Indonesia earthquake prevention

effectiveness- compared to an MEDC
Past Sumatra Earthquakes:
Earthquake Date Magnitude Deaths Total Damage ($)

1797 Sumatra 10 February 1797 8.4 Numerous N/A

Earthquake

1833 Sumatra 25 November 1833 8.8–9.2 N/A N/A

earthquake

1861 Sumatra 16 February 1861 8.5 Several thousand N/A

earthquake

1931 Southwest 25 September 1931 7.3 N/A N/A

Sumatra Earthquake

1935 Sumatra 28 December 1935 7.7 N/A N/A

Earthquake

1984 Northern 17 November 1984 7.2 N/A N/A

Sumatra Earthquake

2002 Sumatra 2 November 2002 7.3 3 N/A

Earthquake

2004 Indian Ocean 26 December 2004 9.0 227,898 2.9 Billion USD
earthquake and
tsunami- epicenter
off the west coast of
Northern Sumatra

2005 Nias–Simeulue 28 March 2005 8.6 >915 N/A

earthquake

March 2007 Sumatra 6 March 2007 6.3 - 6.4 60 160 Million USD
earthquakes

September 2007 12 September 2007 7.9, 8.4 23 N/A

Sumatra earthquakes

2009 Sumatra September 30, 2009 7.6 1,115 N/A

earthquakes
Past United States earthquakes:
Earthquake Date Magnitude Deaths Place

1915 Pleasant Valley October 3, 1915 7.1 0 Nevada

earthquake

1957 Andreanof March 9, 1957 8.6 0 Alaska

Islands earthquake
and tsunami

2002 Denali November 3, 2002 7.9 0 Alaska

earthquake

2008 Chino Hills July 29, 2008 5.5 0 California

earthquake

2010 Eureka January 9, 2010 6.5 0 California

earthquake

2014 Aleutian June 23, 2014 7.9 0 Alaska

Islands earthquake

2014 South Napa August 24, 2014 6.0 1 California

earthquake

Conclusion:
From the list of all the major earthquakes that occurred in the last 200 years, the average magnitude of
the earthquakes recorded is 7.9. Based on the chart above, we can see that an earthquake having a
magnitude higher than 7.5 occurring is very likely. When compared to the U.S, it's clear that the U.S has a
much better economy which explains why they tend to manage well during earthquakes. Even though the
list above is only a hand full of them, the total deaths caused by earthquakes in the U.S is only a little above
four thousand which on the other hand, Sumatra has more than a hundred thousand casualties in one
earthquake.

Largest Earthquake in Sumatra

The largest earthquake in Sumatra: Sumatra earthquake occurred on November 25, 1833 at about 22:00
local time, with an estimated magnitude in the range of 8.8–9.2 Mw . The event lasted for around 3-5
minutes, killing numerous amount of people. It also caused a large tsunami that flooded the southwestern
coast of the island.
Common Residential Buildings in Sumatra
In Sumatra, house buildings are usually small houses with one to two floors. They are usually built with
wood, concrete or bricks. Most of them can be easily destroyed during earthquakes and are clearly not
reliable. Their building structure also does not contain any seismic preventions at all which explains why
their buildings are very vulnerable during earthquakes. These bricks or concrete walls are very crucial
when an earthquake sway to a direction because the wall will collapse to the weaker side, causing a lot of
damage.

do we need earthquake-proof buildings in

Sumatra, Indonesia?
Yes.

Reason 1: Sumatra is located in a highly seismic area of the world and has experienced more than 15
earthquakes over the last 200 years. This means that Sumatra is quite prone to having earthquakes.
Frequent earthquakes lead to economic downturn and lots of money in losses, this is unsustainable and
impacts poor villages in Sumatra greatly, those people need a viable shelter solution.

Reason 2: Six of the top ten strongest Indonesian earthquakes all occurred near Sumatra and along the
Java trench. Some experts also predicted that there will be more massive earthquakes coming in the next
twenty years. If nothing improves more death and chaos will ensure whenever the next earthquake hits,
the prevention methods used as of now are not effective.
Fault Line

The Indonesian island’s fault is known as the Great Sumatran Fault or Semangko Fault or the Sumatran
Subduction Trench. The island is located in a highly seismic area, with a large strike-slip fault which runs
all over the whole island.

The fault line is located in the Indo-Australian plate, whereas Indonesia is located on the Eurasian Plate.
The plate boundary is a convergent boundary and the Indo-Australian plate is slowly subducting under
the Eurasian Plate at a rate of roughly 4.5 cm a year

The earth observatory in singapore has estimated that a large earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 are
likely to hit the west side of Sumatra, but they cannot predict the exact date of when it is going to occur.

Prevention Methods already Attempted

Evacuation Shelters
Tsunamis are caused by Earthquakes. Especially in Sumatra since it’s an island surrounded by the sea.
After the 2004 earthquake, some evacuation shelters were made in Banda Aceh, some of the evacuation
shelters contained opened ground floors so that they can let the wave go through.

Reinforced Concretes
Most of the house buildings in Indonesia are usually built with Reinforced Concretes, they are to be place
inside pillars to make them stable. However, because Sumatra belongs to a LEDC country, their buildings
does not contain any earthquake proof elements/preventions. Therefore it is very easy for them to
collapse during an earthquake. The temperature in real life can also cause the material to shrink or
expand, if the concretes are not carefully mixed and poured cracks will appear and it might affect the
building’s risk of falling down.

In Depth Cost-effectiveness Research

Where Prevention method Cost Effectiveness Evaluation

Taipei 101 Tuned Mass Damper $4 million USD Effective- Reliable Too expensive for
Hydraulic system that Sumatra villages
balances tower very
well

Philippines Arena Lead Rubber Bearings $10 USD per unit Quite effective Designed to withstand
around magnitude 8
quakes (varies
depending on fault).
Very cheap, usually
will only contribute to
3 to 5 percent of the
total construction
cost, and in the
Auckland 1983
earthquake, it saved
7.7 percent in
construction
damages.

Numerous Base $25 USD per unit Quite effective Cheap, viable and
Sabiha Gökçen Isolation Systems good for reducing
International Airport seismic vulnerability
of rural buildings

Burj Khalifa Mechanical Floors $20 Million USD Effective Wowowow

EXPENSIVEEEEE

Shanghai Tower Eddy Current Damper $6 Million USD Very Effective- can’t TOo
feel the building sway exPENsiVeEEEEEEE
even in a typhoon
scenario

Evaluation:
After doing extensive research on cost effectiveness of different earthquake prevention methods, we can
conclude that using multiple base isolation systems and lead rubber bearings will be most suitable and
effective for Sumatra Villages. In our model, we will represent the base isolation systems using sturdy
spring pillars and we will represent the lead rubber bearings with cork that serves as flexible soles
between the floors.

Where Prevention method Cost Effectiveness Evaluation

Sumatra in the future OUR DESIGN- base 29350 HKD Super, Duper, Very nice
isolation and lead
 rubber bearings, Light Extremely,
roof, Outstandingly,
Extraordinarily,
Very Effective

Building plan/Design:

Building type:
- 2-floor house building, since Sumatra is a poor island with no skyscrapers
- Rectangular Prism
- Supported with springs
- Light roof
- Flexible soles between floors, represented by cork

Materials needed:
- Springs
- Wooden Planks
- Measuring Tapes/Ruler
- Markers
- Cork
- Scissors
- Glue Gun/Super Glue
Design Justification:
Foundation
We have decided to use rubber bearings and base isolators (Springs) as the
foundation of our building as it’s very flexible and soft. We need soft
materials as our foundation because it helps to absorb the shock from the
earth during an earthquake, which helps to decrease the vibration and
swaying of the building structure. We also want flexible materials as our
foundation because it helps to minimize the chances of breaking and it
helps to balance out the swaying during an earthquake.

Main Material
We have chosen wood as our main material because wood is light and it gives a significantly lower carbon
footprint compared to other materials such as brick and concrete. Having a light material as our main
structure helps to decrease the likelihood of casualties or injuries from a collapsing building. It also helps
to tackle climate change as wood is renewable and does not require a lot of fossil fuels to make. Even
though wood is slightly weaker than brick and concrete, by using our house design, there should not be
any problem at all.

Roof
We have also decided to use roofs that are lightweight because it gives our building more surface area and
a low center of gravity. Having more surface area is beneficial because it helps to increase the air
resistance when the tiles fall. Our roofs are also shaped like a right-angled triangle so that when it falls, it
will most likely fall sideways instead of straight down. This helps to reduce the damage to the house. We
have decided that our roof will be made out of wooden planks because the material is cheap and it’s not as
heavy as bricks and concretes. We know that using aluminum could be another alternative but aluminum
is not very corrosion resistant when reacting with water.

Bibliography:
Works Cited

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expectancy.

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“Shanghai Tower: Counteracting the Sway Inherent to Supertall Buildings - Urban Planning and
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