Quake property insurance claims in millions
Published on: Monday, July 06, 2015
Kundasang: Insurance companies face claims totalling in the millions of ringgit from property insurance clients with earthquake and landslide / slip perils cover, notably some resorts in and nearby Kundasang.Some insurance adjusters are busy with such reported claims after June 5 when the first major quake occurred.However, some resorts here are spared of major real estate property damage. Daily Express looks at a case to ascertain why a resort among three undamaged here nearby the Kundasang Golf Club even though in closer proximity to Mount Kinabalu were unscathed by continual seismic shock waves.
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An earthquake is measured by its Magnitude and Intensity. The Magnitude indicates the amount of energy released at the source (or epicentre) and is measured by the open-ended Richter Scale.The intensity of an earthquake at a particular locality indicates the violence of earth motion produced there by the earthquake. It is determined from reported effects of the tremor on human beings, furniture, buildings, geological structure, etc.Voon, the resort designer of The Village Resort, is only a retired non-graduate architectural draughtsman, but his foresight and expertise through several decades of experience, helps the resort to survive 5.9 or 6.0 magnitude quake.Other affected resort owners even came to learn how the resort designed by Voon managed to take all the quakes and tremors without any structural or accessory damages.
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Like paralegals, who are the unsung heroes for legal firms doing most of the paperwork while lawyers philosophise, advise and argue, architectural draughtsmen before the advent of computerised CAT, are the workforces of architectural firms while the architects are more like artists and dreamers of concepts.In Sabah, it is known that many people engage draughtsmen to do their development plan drawings, get a registered practising architect to sign for it, and then get the draughtsmen to liaise with the authorities to get the approval especially for small, simple projects, like building one's own house.
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Buildings can be damaged by strong surface seismic waves making the ground heave and lurch. Any buildings in the path of these surface waves can lean or tip over from all the movement. The ground shaking may also cause landslides, mudslides, and avalanches on steeper hills or mountains, all of which can damage buildings and hurt people."My design allows for building gaps to absorb the shaking and vibration. The structural support pillars on which the buildings sit are overdesigned with six major reinforcement steel bars instead of four with PVC enclosure as formwork to the concrete cast in situ at least two feet deep into the foundation footing," he explained.Most buildings here with some flexibility including flimsy workers quarters survived the quakes and tremors relatively better than those with very rigid concrete or plagued by poor workmanship and material used.Some resorts like the Philip Garden Resort here are claiming for business disruption due to the earthquake which cut off electricity and water supply besides the collapse of the bridge linkage which hinders access to the resort.Philip Vun, the resort owner and many others appealed for help to get the electricity and water supply reconnected as soon as possible as resorts are an important tourism draw for Sabah to earn tourism revenue.Meanwhile, since the authorities have yet to come up with a SOP guidelines for the 'dos' and 'don'ts' of earthquake safety, resort operators advise clienteles as follows during any earthquake:• Do not panic, keep calm.• Douse all fires.• If the earthquake catches you indoors, stay indoors. Take cover under a sturdy piece of furniture. Stay away from glass, or loose hanging objects.• If you are outside, move away from buildings, steep slopes and utility wires.• If you are in a crowded place, do not rush for cover or to doorways.• If you are in a moving vehicle, stop as quickly as safety permits, but stay in the vehicle until the shaking stops.• If you are in a lift, get out of the lift as quickly as possible.• If you are in a tunnel, move out of the tunnel to the open as quickly as safety permits. • After the earthquake:• Check for casualties and seek assistance if needed.• If you suspect a gas leak, open windows and shut off the cylinder valve. Leave the building and report the gas leak. Do not light a fire or use the telephone at the site.• Turn off the water valve if water supply is damaged.• Do not use the land line telephone except to report an emergency or to obtain assistance.• Stay out of severely damaged buildings as aftershocks may cause them to collapse. Report any building damage to the authorities.At the seashore, as a precaution against tsunamis, stay away from shores, beaches and low-lying coastal areas if you are not sure whether the epicentre is offshore or inland. If you are there, move inland or to higher grounds. The upper floors of high, multi-storey, reinforced concrete building can provide safe refuge if there is no time to quickly move inland or to higher grounds. No Feng Shui geomancer masters or any futurologists or fortune tellers on property matters before June 5 had predicted Sabah would be hit by a moderate earthquake with fatalities, although many on hindsight would claim to have seen such misfortune in whatever charts and stars.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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