6.5 Degree Earthquake Occurred Near The Island of Sumatra in Indonesia

The quake jolted at 05:03 am Jakarta time Wednesday with epicenter at 18 km northeast Pidie Jaya district and the depth at 10 km under land, an official of the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

The death toll from Wednesday morning's 6.5-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia's Aceh province has risen to 97. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said 613 people were injured. Some 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed, mostly in Pidie Jaya, including 14 mosques and the remainder largely dwellings and shop houses.

Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

"Everything is Ruined"

As the earthquake occurred at 05:03 am, when many people stay at home, Haasibiya Jaya, a 37-year-old local resident, said he and his family were sleeping when the earthquake struck.

"As soon as the quake came, we ran out of the house, but the house collapsed right away, from roof to ceiling, and everything fell apart,"he said. "I looked around and all the neighbors' houses collapsed.

Many residents had to stay in the streets because of the destruction of homes and fear of aftershocks.

In addition to casualties, the earthquake also caused some serious damage to buildings and infrastructure. The picture shows that many houses razed to the ground, mosques and other buildings collapsed.

Urgent Rescue

The earthquake casualties are mainly concentrated at Pidi Jaya county which is located at the center of earthquake. Local relief agency officials Pute Manafu said that Pidi Jaya county hospital has been overcrowded, some of the injured were taken to the nearby regional hospitals for treatment.

"Dozens of people are still missing, and we can not give an accurate figure right now," said Haier Nova, a relief agency official in Aceh, Indonesia.

"Many houses collapsed and there were many people trapped, but they were still alive (in need of rescue)," said deputy county magistrate Pidi Jaya. Many heavy machinery has been sent into disaster areas to help search and rescue, carry out search and excavation work, the county government will continue to seek assistance to neighboring local governments.

Earthquake Measures

As the world's largest archipelago country, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its geographical location. The country is located in the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt, a volcanic and fault line in the Pacific Basin. In December 2004, a massive earthquake near the island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in dozens of countries.

In this earthquake, the main casualties are caused by the collapse of the building. For a country located in the seismic belt, it is very necessary to increase the seismic performance to a great extent in their building construction.
Light gauge steel keel structures are highly practical, and can be proved by a large number of facts, this type of housing structure can minimize casualties in previous earthquakes. Such as Japan and New Zealand and other seismic zone countries light steel building is popular and common.

Seismic Coefficient of Light Steel Building

Light steel building floor consists of cold-formed steel frame or composite beam, OSB structure floor board, supporting, connectors and other components. The materials used are oriented particleboard, cement fiberboard, and plywood. It could bear 316 ~ 365 kg /㎡ load.

The wall system is mainly composed of wall column, wall top beam, bottom beam, wall support, wall panels and connectors.
The roof system is composed of roof frame, structural OSB panel, and waterproof layer, light roofing tile (metal or asphalt shingles).
The appearance of light steel structure roof can have a variety of combinations.

The property of metal material and the necessary structure of the shear wall structure determine the natural seismic performance of light steel structure system. As the activities of the earthquake is the left and right and up and down activities, so connected together with a light steel structure forms a safe and stable box, which won’t endangering personal safety due to collapse of wall or floor. It could meet the requirements not collapse in 9 degree earthquake.

In addition to earthquake proof, light steel buildings is also moisture-proof and breathable,  and could withstand degree 12 hurricanes and 1500mm snow load, and has a 50-year lifespan.

                                                                             The onsite construction of PTH light steel building

Short construction period, cost saving up to 50% and ecofriendly are also the advantages of light steel building.
About the cost of light steel structure, please refer to
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