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Earthquake resistant houses are one of the mitigation measures due to earthquake disasters. The concept of the house should be intensively applied in Indonesia.
Considering that this island nation is in an active tectonic zone, parts of its territory are prone to earthquakes. Basically, earthquakes do not directly result in human lives being lost.
Most of the victims were caused by falling debris from houses or buildings. This is clearly caused by human negligence itself. Negligence in question is not heeding the ideal location standards, design and construction of houses.
For example, forcing to build a house in a location prone to landslides such as slopes or faults. Then build or design a house without planning and not according to standards, both in terms of material selection and construction.
Principles of Earthquake Resistant Houses
Regarding the ins and outs of earthquake-resistant houses, the Ministry of Public Works has actually made guidelines. In these guidelines, a number of basic principles of earthquake-resistant buildings are listed, which consist of:
- Earthquake-resistant houses are dwellings that, when hit by a weak earthquake, the building is not damaged at all.
- Meanwhile, when hit by an earthquake with moderate strength, the building only suffers damage to non-structural elements.
- Meanwhile, when hit by an earthquake with a large force, the building is damaged, but may not collapse.
Components for Making Earthquake Resistant Houses
The concept of an earthquake-resistant house can actually be applied to all types of housing, including simple houses. Reporting from the inarisk.bnpb.go.id page, the requirements for earthquake-resistant houses must pay attention to a number of aspects consisting of:
- Building material
- Main structure
- Casting concrete.
Building material
The use of quality building materials is certainly a requirement in building earthquake-resistant houses. The following are the types of building materials that are components of the construction of earthquake resistant houses:
Concrete
The thing that must be considered in making a concrete mix is to pay attention to the ratio of a mixture of cement, sand, gravel and water.
The comparison is; 1 bucket of cement, 2 buckets of sand, 3 buckets of gravel and 0.5 liter of water.
The addition of water to the concrete mix should be done little by little, so that the mixture is not too runny or thick. As for the ideal gravel size is 20 mm, with good gradation. Meanwhile, the cement used should use type 1 cement according to the Indonesian National Standard (SNI).
Mortars
Making mortar or binder also cannot be done haphazardly. Ideally mortar is made with a mixture of cement, sand and water.
The volume of mortar has a ratio of 1 bucket of cement, 4 buckets of clean sand and enough water.
Foundation stone
The next material relates to the foundation. Usually, the foundation of the house is made of river stone or mountain stone. Both types of stone have a solid and hard form. In addition, river and mountain stones also have many angles to strengthen mortar bonds.
Brick
Next is the brick, which is the material for making the walls. Following are the ideal specifications of qualified bricks:
- The edges are straight and sharp
- Not many cracks
- Not easy to break
- Dimensions are not too small and uniform.
Wood
Wood is also an important material in buildings. Quality wood that is earthquake resistant must be of good quality with the following characteristics:
- Hard
- Dry
- Dark in color
- No cracks
- Straight
Concrete Structure and Casting
The main structure of the house consists of; foundations, tie beams or sloof, columns, beams around or rings, roof structures, and walls.
The process of making earthquake resistant house construction must pay attention to the accuracy of dimensions and through the correct method. In addition, all elements of the building structure must be a single unit, so that the load can be borne proportionally.
The building structure must also be ductile, so that it can survive if it changes shape during an earthquake.
Next is the concrete casting stage. This stage must pay attention to the following:
- Make sure the mold / formwork is really tight, strong and firm.
- Column casting is carried out in stages every 1 meter.
- Make sure the mixture in the mold is solid and not hollow. So that there are no porous parts.
- Release of formwork at least 3 days after casting.
