Apartments and earthquake

Harun-or-Rashid, Sobhanbag, Dhaka
In case of high-rise buildings not only the foundation, the ground floor must be made sufficiently strong, so that they can withstand the pressure in times of earthquake. I believe developers follow the design properly in foundation. But in ground floor maximum buildings are standing on some columns only as Rajuk does not permit building apartments on ground floor which is to be used for car parking. In engineering terms, this type of ground floor is called soft-storey. But thinking about the earthquake and other disasters, the ground floor should be made stronger and we can do it if we make apartments on ground floor. The empty ground floor is really risky. Traffic jams are a burning question particularly in Dhaka where people should not be encouraged to buy cars which are also a reason behind jams. We should travel by big buses before introducing underground rail lines. In our existing laws for buildings, people are encouraged to buy cars as high-rise buildings have parking facilities. So, the laws should be changed considering the risk of earthquake.