Limited damage to property mart
Published on: Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Ranau: The recent seismic disturbances are not expected to affect property value here at the epicentre or elsewhere in the state. It is, however, affecting fundamental demand for some affected subsided Kundasang land locations, including farmland and those prone to landslides.Business vibrancy is down and the prospects remain slow from hotel or chalet room occupancy rate to homestay even when rates are discounted, to turnover of natural produce like vegetable sales volume.ADVERTISEMENT It is reassuring for local property investors that ninety per cent of real estate property man-made or constructed structure in the epicentre district here survived recent earthquake tremors unscathed in a survey conducted."There is not much damage here in Ranau, except for some like the police quarters, district mosque, hospital block, a Chinese school block, and temple, schools nearer to Kundasang," said R. Nasun, a local property broker, one of the survey respondents. "Even in Kundasang, the Perkasa Hotel although closed for a short while after the first earthquake, is not affected by structural damages being one of the highest multi-storey structures in Kundasang, but is sited on a solid hill." he said.Some things that affect the amount of earthquake damage that occurs are, according to experts, the building designs, the distance from the epicentre, and the type of surface material (rock or earth) the buildings rest on.ADVERTISEMENT Different building designs hold up differently in an earthquake and the further you are from the earthquake, the less damage you'll usually see.Whether a building is built on solid rock or sand makes a big difference in how much damage it takes. Solid rock usually shakes less than sand, so a building built on top of solid rock shouldn't be as damaged as it might if it was sitting on a sandy lot, experts say.
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Former Sabah Geological Dept Director David Lee advised developers not to wait for a new building code but effect necessary earthquake measures.Current Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) Sabah Chapter head, Haji Shahriman Abdullah said buildings in Brunei are better designed as the financial budget for them were higher than what clients can offer in Sabah.Design for earthquake survivability costs more, and generally overdesign is better than under-design for any future eventuality.According to architect Lo Su Yin, the State Central Board and the Kota Kinabalu City Hall have met and will meet with professionals to deliberate on the matter and consider which earthquake building code to follow, as Sabah on Borneo is not expected to be as afflicted as islands like Taiwan or Japan are to seismic movements.Nevertheless, alarmist reports in national newspapers picked up by foreign media which painted a perception of the whole state of Sabah being an earthquake afflicted zone may put off potential foreign investors like MM2H as health clinics, resort chalets here were reported to have suffered damage as was the golf course.Mud floods have affected homes at the foothills of the mountain, damaging bridges and cutting road links from Kampung Mesilau on Mount Kinabalu eastern face and Kampung Kiau on Mount Kinabalu western side.Other than some schools, police quarters, a mosque, a temple, other buildings survived more than 90 seismic shakes and jerks up to 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, with Kundasang worse off together with surrounding Mount Kinabalu foothill areas of Kota Belud and Tuaran districts like Kampung Kiau, Kampung Lobong-Lobong and Kampung Kaung.Damages were said to be more likely due to the standard of construction and workmanship in government public projects that contractors exploited or profiteered by cutting corners due to poor supervision.Shareda president Datuk Francis Goh told a national tabloid that it is costly to build earthquake proof standard structures and there is no urgent need to do so in the state capital.However, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman insisted that property developers in Sabah need to draw lessons from earthquakes to design and build stronger and safer structures as the continuing aftershocks must serve as reminder to all that buildings must be strong enough and built to the highest of standards."Our buildings should be able to absorb the shock that comes from tremors and be made of material that would not cause loss of life in case these structures do collapse or become badly damaged," said Musa.A 5.9 magnitude earthquake with an epicentre 10km north of Ranau shook most parts of Sabah and killed 18 climbers and guides at the State's world renowned Mount Kinabalu on June 5.A series of aftershocks have continued since then. The latest tremors, a magnitude 2.8 and 2.2 coming from west of Ranau, were recorded yesterday at 1.32am and 11.03am. Earthquake tremors are the result of a rapid release of energy where seismic waves move in all directions from the source, known as a focus. A point on the Earth's surface above the focus is called the earthquake centre.For example, the centre of the Ranau earthquake is near the peak of Mount Kinabalu. This means the focus of the earthquake was underneath its centre; in this case it was 10km below the centre. This is what caused the massive landslidesTremors usually occur along faults, or longitudinal cracks in the earth that have bent and snapped back in what is called an elastic rebound. Imagine taking a plastic ruler and bending it. After a certain point it will break and release all the energy put into it from our effort to bend it. When an earthquake happens, the rocks in the earth are behaving in a similar fashion, experts say.The aftershocks, which are smaller tremors that occur while the Earth's crust settles. So far, more than 90 aftershocks were recorded by the Meteorological Department. Seismic waves refer to the energy that is released after an earthquake during the elastic rebound. Experts say there are three types of seismic waves – primary, secondary shear waves and surface waves.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Primary waves are the fastest and move forward and backwards like a lurching car. These can make people feel dizzy, as surface waves are also moving from left to right. All three waves can be felt almost at once if one is close to the earthquake's epicentre.About 80 per cent of earthquakes occur in the Pacific Rim due to a collision of tectonic plates in the Earth's crust. The rest occur outside those regions in areas with active fault lines.