New Earthquake Rules For Dubai's Buildings

Dubai's new high-rise constructions have to be resilient enough to withstand magnitude-5.9 earthquakes in line with revised building standards just released there.

The new rules were introduced in light of a recent spike in the number of Iranian earthquakes taking place, bearing in mind Iran is situated on the other side of the Arabian Gulf. Just last month, an earthquake occurred on the border between Iran and Pakistan with a magnitude of 7.8.

Announcing the measure's introduction, Dubai Municipality's Yousuf Abdullah Al Marzouqi confirmed that it would take immediate effect and said that the raised standard was meant to safeguard the general public and give Dubai's buildings a shared quality level. He also explained that the amended building rules applied both to ongoing construction projects and those applied-for but not yet approved.

Before now, the earthquake minima for buildings in Dubai was set at 5.5 on the Richter scale. That 5.5 threshold is being retained for constructions with more than five but less than ten storeys. However, constructions with more than ten storeys will now fall into the magnitude-5.9 classification. The 5.5-threshold buildings will fall under 'Zone 2A', while the 5.9-threshold buildings will be bracketed within 'Zone 2B'.

Dubai Earthquake Building Rules

"The modifications will affect the requirements of the structural design and sector loads related to earthquakes, while those related to wind speed have not been changed and remains the same", Al Marzouqi clarified in a statement on the new Dubai earthquake building rules.

The wind speed standard presently in use states that all buildings should withstand three seconds of wind moving at 45 metres per second: equivalent to a 160 kilometre-per-hour gust.

Prior to this new announcement, Dubai had been looking at its constructions' seismic thresholds for the past four years.

Two months ago, Dubai's World Trade Centre hosted the Outdoor Design Build & Supply event: an exhibition supported by Greenworks LLC, Terraverde, Orient Irrigation, Fitco Irrigation, Toscana Landscaping and others.