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Village girls make quake-safe houses
A model of a quake-resistant building, the brainchild of two class X students, is getting rave reviews at the 18th Western India Science Fair in Mumbai. If all goes well, the project by Khushboo Sewak and Abhilasha Pandey, enrolled at a school in Seepat, near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, may well become a model for building quake-resistant buildings.
Science fair model suitable for buildings and bridges
A model of a quake-resistant building, the brainchild of two class X students, is getting rave reviews at the 18th Western India Science Fair in Mumbai. If all goes well, the project by Khushboo Sewak and Abhilasha Pandey, enrolled at a school in Seepat, near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, may well become a model for building quake-resistant buildings.
The model has already been certified by the district administration after few modifications and it is now being sent for the government's approval. MI Khan, sub-divisional officer (SDO), irrigation department, says, "The model of the multi-storeyed building has isolated bearings at the corners of the building's surface for seismic areas, is earthquake-resistant and is also durable.
" Khan is modifying the students’ model to include special synthetic rubber air valves to support the corners. "This would take the air pressure on itself. The model would be forwarded to the Centre through the state government for adopting it on a national scale," the SDO says.
He expects the modified model to be ready within a month. The model was prepared under the guidance of the school's science teacher, Panu Haldar. He read an article on this technology and encouraged the students to build a model.
"In case of an earthquake, the isolation system does not absorb the energy of the earthquake, but deflects it through the dynamics of the system. The bearings are made by vulcanisation bonding of sheets of rubber to thin steel reinforcing plates.
This would prevent the structure from collapsing even if the earth shakes vigorously," Khan explains. "These students have a lot of potential. If they harness their talent further, success will beckon them," Khan adds.
