Loading ...Concrete is very strong in compression (squeezed) but weak in tension (pulled), so they build with a series of steel rebar reinforced columns and beams , and maintain compression in the columns with heavy poured concrete floors above . I have been in four quakes here , I think the strongest was a 6.8 or 7.0 , and was amazed to watch the columns swaying without so much as a crack forming . People do try to get outside , though , and the most common roofing material is overlapping , corrugated , mesh reinforced concrete slabs ( ~ 1.5 m.by 3 m. ?) wired to steel beams below . Also clay tiles , interlocking and overlapping held in place by gravity , but they can be a projectile hazard during quakes for those who go to the streets .
It is a joke here that one always sleeps in PJ’s in case of a quake forcing evacuation to the street during the night .
Goldie – the Colombians have an interesting approach to building to resist earthquakes
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