In Darkness, Where is the Light?

China has tried for years to show Western society that it is a modern nation, adding McDonald's, replacing bicycles with cars, erecting glass office towers, and inviting the world to see it all when Beijing hosts the Olympics in August. This presents a superficial first impression as the Chinese government hides its third world characteristics behind a curtain of capitalism and advancement.

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake which struck the Sichuan province earlier this week and its resulting destruction is a result of what happens when a rapidly developing country refuses to learn from its past and ignores its citizens. For centuries, China has been one of the most active earthquake zones in the world. The deadliest earthquake in modern history struck Tangshan in 1976, registering 7.8 on the Richter Scale (although some estimates outside of China have it as high as 8.2) and "officially" claiming the lives of a quarter of a million people. That estimate is low, and several reports state nearly 750,000 people perished as a result of that disaster.

That quake from over 30 years ago forced the national government to create tougher building codes. Weimin Dong of Risk Management Solutions, who has served on technical committees at the Earthquake Engineering Institute in California and studied earthquake-related insurance issues in China, told Newsweek's Katie Paul about the construction problem:

China's earthquake design code was not enforced until 1978...Before 1954, there was no design code. From 1964 to 1978, there was a very rudimentary design code. After 1978, that was a wake up call. But in a lot of rural areas, a lot of the buildings were old and were built before that. The requirement for intensity seven (on a scale of 1-10, with a 10 building to withstand the most severe earthquake) is only for new buildings. Many of the buildings in the area were not designed for earthquakes at all.

Why were so many structures designed only to withstand a seven? Dong explained that much of it has to do with expense, "You have to have larger beam sizes and everything else, so it's a cost consideration. After the Tangshan quake, China did spend a lot of money to retrofit brick buildings...So when you go to China, you see all these older brick buildings; there are concrete columns on the corner and ring beams around the buildings to try to keep the building from collapsing. They did a lot of this kind of retrofitting nationwide, but mostly in the cities."

For all the complaining that goes on about codes and regulations and the related construction costs, sometimes having too many people looking out for your safety beats having no one care. It is much better to have to follow the local fire inspector toting a clipboard than walking next to a casket carrying your child.

Shoddy building practices and ignorance of code enforcement contributed to the loss of over 20,000 people this week, while several thousand more remain unaccounted for underneath the cement of schools and apartment buildings. Can you imagine what it must be like to have to search for your loved ones in the aftermath of the devastation while you look up and see a government building standing as undisturbed as ever?

The pros and cons of building codes are a part of everyday life for facility managers (fms). The rules affect how fms do their jobs, and love them or despise them the codes are not going away any time soon. How do building codes affect you daily? Has the earthquake made you reassess how you view codes? Please post your comments.