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Myanmar Earthquake Committee’s Deputy Chairman Saw Htwe Zaw recommend against the plan for Yangon to expand into Twantay and Dala Townships due to the Basin Effect.
According to him, those two townships are prone to more damage when an earthquake strikes due to the abovementioned geo-condition of the land.
He spoke no January 23 at an event hosted by Myanmar Red Cross on providing more information regarding the dangers of earthquakes.
“Since the space to build a city was built on hard ground since the English Colonial era, it had come to pass that we’ve been expanding on soft soil and building tall buildings on them. Places like Dagon Seikkan, Twantay and Dala lies on very soft land and has what we call a Basin Effect. If an earthquake happens on the Sagaing fault line, those places will shake longer and more so than other places,” said Saw Htwe Zaw.
He claimed that expansion plan of the city must be given more thought and fortify every structure as to ensure some sort of safety for residents that will live in those places but it will be a very expensive venture.
“The city is developing fast. We’ve been constructing tall buildings on soft soil and small buildings on the hard. The situation dictates that we will suffer heavy consequences when a serious seismic activity hits the city. It might already be too late because projects like that Dala Bridge has already begun. There are also plans to greatly urbanize Dala as well. It would be wise to rethink those projects from a disaster-mitigation angle, “said Saw Htwe Zaw.
Source: Eleven Myanmar
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