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Home » Analysis

Better safe than sorry in seismic Mumbai

The architects who are in favour of going vertical argue that they build taller buildings on raft foundations, which behave like “a
ship, pitching and tossing during a storm, but not sinking” during an earthquake.

Reported By: | Edited By: V Subramanyan |Source: DNA |Updated: May 14, 2015, 05:54 PM IST

In ‘Going vertical with a vengeance’ (DNA, September 27), the writer has projected the developers’
argument that high-rises are more convenient and hold the answer to our housing problems, given the
city’s high population density. The article also comes out with some seemingly grandiose information
that at least a dozen buildings with more than 60 storeys are nearing completion, 50 similar towers are
underway and at least 100 buildings taller than 70m (with about 22 storeys) are in different stages of
construction.
But, it is difficult to share the enthusiasm of the government at its plans to forge an international image
for Mumbai through a jagged skyline like that of Manhattan, Hong Kong and Singapore. What has been
i tl f tt i M b i’ hi h i i it Th it f
https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-better-safe-than-sorry-in-seismic-mumbai-1748105 th i k f b i hit b th k 2/23
9/25/22, 8:02 PM Better safe than sorry in seismic Mumbai

conveniently forgotten is Mumbai’s high seismicity. The city faces the risk of being hit by an earthquake
of sufficient magnitude (6.5), which can knock tall buildings off their bases.

This, in turn, imposes indisputable restrictions on the heights up to which skyscrapers can be safely
constructed, despite adopting the best earthquake-resistant designs, because experts cannot guarantee
the safety of high-rises beyond a certain limit.
Charles Correa, a reputed architect and town-planner, does not subscribe to the credo that going vertical
is the only solution to our housing problems. He had, in fact, dubbed Mumbai’s skyscrapers
“monstrosities” some time ago.
The uneasiness associated with very tall high-rises stems from the fact that most of Mumbai has
literally risen from the sea and so has only reclaimed land to offer, by and large, for construction. Only
compacted soil is available for the foundations of proposed extremely tall buildings and when
earthquake vibrations pass through them, the water contained in the soil gets released, leading to the
dreaded phenomenon of liquefaction, which converts soil into a jelly-like mass. This causes considerable
damage to very tall structures.
The architects who are in favour of going vertical argue that they build taller buildings on raft
foundations, which behave like “a ship, pitching and tossing during a storm, but not sinking” during an
earthquake. However, researchers in the University of Pennsylvania had claimed in an article in
‘Discover’ magazine (July 2005) that this much-touted raft foundation only tilts the tall buildings and
does not effectively contribute to their structural stability during earthquakes.
There is no point in comparing Mumbai with Manhattan, Hong Kong and Singapore for the simple
reason that all these places are located in non-seismic zones and so, can afford the luxury of going for
very tall skyscrapers. Mumbai, on the other hand, falls in earthquake zone III and faces the risk of being
struck by an earthquake of magnitude 6.5, like the one that hit Latur 19 years
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In the state of California in the US, which is the most earthquake-prone region, almost all residential
buildings are modest one-storey bungalows; there are a few spectacular skyscrapers only in downtown
San Francisco, Los Angeles and the state capital, Sacramento, to serve as showcase specimens for the
outside world. Mumbai needs to learn from the American example and keep its high-rises within, say,
70m as recommended by the expert committee on high-rises some time ago for other reasons.  Anything
taller will be unsafe.
Mumbai is lucky not to have been hit by a major earthquake for several years now. Nevertheless, there
have been a few minor tremors in recent years around Taloja and Kalyan, the latest one occurring right
at Thane on April 21 last year, clearly indicating that seismic activity that has been confined to the
corridor to the east of the Thane Creek is slowly sneaking into the island city. And, a major ‘fault’ (the
rupture plane in rocks that is responsible for earthquakes) running all along the eastern slopes of the
Malabar-Cumbala-Worli hill complex was reported by geologists and engineers concerned of the West
Island Freeway Project in 1968.
https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-better-safe-than-sorry-in-seismic-mumbai-1748105 3/23
9/25/22, 8:02 PM Better safe than sorry in seismic Mumbai

Quite a number of the existing high-rises and the proposed ones are not far from this seismogenic
feature.

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35 साल से अधिक आयु के लिये - 1 करोड़ का जीवन बीमा मात्र ₹490/माह*.

टर्म जीवन बीमा योजना

It will be prudent, therefore, to keep in mind the seismicity of the city and to curb our enthusiasm for
skyscrapers because nobody can guarantee their safety during an earthquake. And, significantly, we do
not have any case history to go by — all our major earthquakes so far, in 1993 (Latur), 1997 (Jabalpur) and
2001 (Bhuj) — occurred in regions where there were no tall buildings at all. The few smaller storeyed
buildings in Kutch tilted.
The author is a former geological advisor of the state’s earthquake project and an ex-professor of geology,
IIT-Bombay.

earthquake Geology Hong Kong Latur Manhattan Singapore Thane creek Bhuj California Jabalpur

Los Angeles SAN FRANCISCO University of Pennsylvania West Island Kalyan US Malabar-Cumbala-Worli

Kutch Charles Correa Sacramento West Island Freeway Project Taloja Mumbais

35 साल से अधिक आयु के लिये - 1

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