By Cho Jae-hyon
The government is moving to tighten seismic resistance standards to make buildings, bridges and other infrastructure more quake resistant following the recent mega-earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
At a National Assembly session, the chief of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the agency will eventually make it mandatory for new buildings to follow specific guidelines in their construction.
“We will take necessary measures to improve the quake resistance of buildings,” NEMA director Park Yeon-soo said.
The agency plans to raise the resistance of public facilities to 43 percent by 2015 and to 80 percent by 2030, Park said.
A budget of 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) has been allotted by the government to undertake quake safety work up to 2015.
According to NEMA, only 16 percent of the 51,903 public buildings nationwide that are subject to engineering standards were built under earthquake-proof guidelines.
Separately, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said he will ask the city council to revise rules to require the same for all new buildings in the capital.
“I will suggest the central government revise decrees to require all new buildings to follow stronger seismic standards. All public facilities to be built in Seoul will also be required to meet quake-resistant design requirements,” Oh said.
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