Frequent tremors lead to gauging of strengths of buildings to withstand them

By Rathindra Kuruwita 

 A programme to gauge the resistance of buildings and new constructions against earth tremors was underway across Sri Lanka, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) senior geophysicist Mahinda Seneviratne said on Monday.

He said that several small tremors had been felt in the country in the past year.Seneviratne said they were paying special attention to buildings in Colombo due to the high density of structures in the city.

He said that there had been a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the seas off the south-east coast of Sri Lanka on Saturday afternoon.GSMB has received many questions about the safety of buildings, especially following Saturday’s tremor.The tremor had been located around 1,260 km from Colombo and took place in the deep seas, the GSMB official said.