Kota Kinabalu: The second Penang bridge, which is situated 400km from the Sumatran seismic area is utilising seismic rubber bearings as base isolators, which is a good investment, said Malaysian Rubber Board's liaison officer for Technology and End-Uses, Dato' Dr Kamarudin Ab Malek.
The bridge is the first commercial structure that uses the rubber bearings, even though the technology has been used in a three-storey Malaysian Palm Oil Board building in Lahad Datu, he said, adding the Malaysian Rubber Board designed and manufactured the bearings.
Citing the 1985 earthquake which devastated Mexico City although the epicentre was more than 350km away, Kamarudin said the 1976 Lahad Datu quake in Lahad Datu triggered the usage of the earthquake safety feature.
He said the same application can be used for hospitals and public areas in Sabah as these buildings host expensive medical equipment apart from precious lives, adding that the cost of integrating the rubber technology is low as it required low maintenance.
Kamarudin presented a paper on the Challenges in the Applications of Seismic Rubber Bearings during a Seminar on Earthquake Protection – Awareness and Promotion of High Damping Rubber Bearing at the Promenade Hotel on Thursday.
Before that, Prof Dr Azlan Adnan from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia presented the basic concepts of earthquake and the science behind the application of technologies in buildings and structures.
When asked whether the rubber bearings could be applied for buildings in Sabah, in view of the Cabotage policy as well as rubber not being the core business of the State, he said it is feasible and can be done.