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To help ensure adequate protective measures are put in place, the Civil Engineering and other concerned Government Departments regularly assess the seismic risk of Hong Kong, sometimes with the assistance of seismologists from the UK and China. During the past few years, a number of studies have been carried out on issues such as:
(i)
data of earthquakes occurring in the nearby regions;
(ii) the tectonic setting of Hong Kong; and
(iii) the effects of seismic loading on slopes, retaining walls, reclamations and buildings. In addition, the Government is upgrading the local seismic monitoring network;
(b) The structural design of each type of building/structure has to be considered on a case-by-case basis. The relevant authority will require the inclusion of seismic risk in the structural design of a building/structure as the case may be; and
(c) The relevant Building Regulations and Codes of Practice are regularly reviewed, taking into account the latest data of the seismic risk of Hong Kong. For example, in the current review of the Code of Practice for Structural Use of Concrete, seismic effect is one of the subjects being considered by a Committee including representatives from the relevant professional and academic bodies.
Structural designs of Government and Housing Authority buildings follow closely the requirements of the Building (Construction) Regulations and the relevant Codes.
As regards highways, railways and facilities with special post-disaster functions, such as the new Chek Lap Kok Airport Terminal Building, seismic risk is normally included in the design as an additional factor which may affect their structural stability, i.e. they should be able to withstand earthquakes of a scale comparable to the seismic risk of Hong Kong.
End/Thursday, November 2, 1995