the awesomest house

Nanfang Daily has found Gansu’s most awesomest private house:

甘肃文县：“最牛民房”历震弥坚 用木质材料间隔或是抗震原因

Wen County, Gansu: “Awesomest private house” still stands firm after the quake Is it’s use of wooden materials why it withstood the quake?

 位于甘肃文县，继续居住无碍，用木质材料间隔或是抗震原因　　

Situated in Wen County, Gansu, still inhabitable, perhaps its use of wooden materials at interals reason for surviving the quake.

5·12地震后，甘肃文县碧口镇几乎百分之百的房屋倒塌或被损毁而无法居住，然而在碧口镇窦家坝村，有一栋两层民房却屹立不动，除了轻微的墙壁裂纹，这栋砖木结构的民房与往常无异。

After the May 12 earthquake, almost 100% of the buildings in Bikou Township, Wen County, Gansu collapsed or were too badly damaged to be inhabitable, but in Bikou Township’s Doujiaba Village one two-storey private home stood steady as a rock. Apart from a few slight cracks in the walls, this brick joisted private home was no different from normal.

碧口镇完好民房仅此一间

 Almost the only intact private house in Bikou Township

　　甘肃省重灾区文县，在震后90％左右的房屋倒塌或成为危房。文县以碧口镇受灾重最，这里与四川省青川县木鱼镇紧邻。离5·12大地震震中汶川距 离不到200公里。在碧口镇窦家坝村紧邻212国道的这栋二层民房，是村民任兴平在1998年建起的。当初仅花了3万多元，他没有想到，10年之后，这栋 房屋在经历8级地震和多次余震后仍然坚挺不倒，几乎毫发无损。

In Gansu Province’s Wen County, heavily affected by the disaster, around 90%  of the buildings were toppled or rendered dangerous by the quake. Bikou Township was the most severely affected area in Wen County, being a close neighbour of Muyu Township, Qingchuan County, Sichuan Province. It is less than 200 kilometres from the epicentre of the May 12 earthquake in Wenchuan. This two-storey private home next to State Highway 212 in Doujiaba Village, Bikou Township, was built by villager Ren Xingping in 1998. At the time, he only spent a little over 30 thousand yuan, and didn’t think that ten years later this house would go through an earthquake of 8 on the Richter scale and numerous aftershocks and still stand firm, seemingly not damaged in the slightest.

“我当时在外面干活，地震后心想家里的房子都完了。”房主任兴平说，5月12日地震后，他立刻赶回家中看自己的房子，没想到建于1998年的两层房屋从外面看毫发无损，仅掉落几个瓦片。进房之后，也仅在二楼南侧一间房内见到一丝很小的裂纹。

“At the time, I was working outside, and after the earthquake I thought the house would be destroyed,” said the owner Ren Xingping. After the May 12 earthquake he immediately hurried home to check on his house, and didn’t think that his two-storey house built in 1998 would seem from the outside to have not suffered even the slightest damage, only losing a few tiles. After going inside, he saw one very small crack in a room on the southside of the second floor.

“我自己当时也奇怪。”任兴平说，房屋建于1998年，是砖木结构的，而旁边自己的兄弟建于2003年的两层砖混结构楼房已经摇摇欲坠，多处严重受损，成为无法居住的危房。

“I thought it strange myself at the time”, said Ren Xingping. The house was built in 1998, it’s brick joisted, and the two-storey brick and concrete houses built in 2003 on either side were shaking, with serious damage in several places, and had become to dangerous to live in.

　　像任兴平这样几乎完好无损的民房，在碧口镇没有第二家，堪称此次地震中碧口镇灾区的“最牛民房”。

    There is no other house in Bikou Township intact and undamaged like Ren Xingping’s house, which can be declared “The awesomest house” in this earthquake’s Bikou Township disaster zone.

 省地震局前来考察当样板

Provincial Seismology Bureau comes to inspect the prototype

这栋“最牛民房”引来了甘肃省地震局应急处处长景天孝详细考察。连日来，景天孝带领地震局专业人士到甘肃省各灾区考察房屋损毁情况，在沿212国道行至碧口镇窦家坝村时，任兴平的房屋立刻引起了他的注意。

This “awesomest house” brought head of the Gansu Provincial Seismology Bureau Emergency Department Jing Tianxiao to conduct a detailed investigation. Over several days, Jing Tianxiao lead experts from the Seismology Bureau through all Gansu Province’s disaster zones inspecting the damage to buildings. As they were going along State Highway 212 to Bikou Township’s Doujiaba Village, Ren Xingping’s house immediately grabbed his attention.

“这个房子怎么没事？”他脱口而出。从外观上看，这栋房屋完好无损，为了能详细了解情况，他进入房屋，对各个房间和墙壁仔细察看，最终只在二楼的南屋发现 一点裂纹痕迹。在重灾区经历了8级地震和6.4级余震后仍然如此完好，专业人士们唏嘘赞叹：“房子完全没有问题，可以继续住。”

“How come this house has no problem?” he blurted out. Looking from outside, this house seems intact and undamaged. To get an in-depth understanding of the situation, he went inside, and carefully examined every room and wall, ultimately only on the south side of the second floor finding a few traces of cracks. Having gone through an earthquake of 8 on the Richter scale and a 6.4 aftershock in the serious disaster zone and still as intact as this, the experts gasped in admiration: “The house has absolutely no problem. You can continue living here.”

随后他向任兴平了解了房屋结构等详细情况，据任兴平介绍，这个房屋在1998年建造时没有过多考虑抗震功能，也不是什么框架结构，就是普通的砖木结 构房屋。与其它房屋不同的是，房顶仅以木椽青瓦覆盖，质轻。至于其它方面，任兴平介绍，一楼完全用优质实心砖，二楼用的空心砖；而各间房间之间的间隔并非 砌以砖墙，而是用木质材料隔开。

Then he questioned Ren Xingping to understand the detailed situation of the structure. According to Ren Xingping, when this house was built in 1998, he didn’t think too much about its anti-seismic function, and it’s not some kind of frame construction, just an ordinary brick joisted building. The difference with other houses is that the roof is only covered in wooden rafters and grey tiles, naturally light. As for the other aspects, according to Ren Xingping, the first floor is made entirely of fine quality solid bricks, and the second floor from hollow bricks; and the intervals between the rooms are not really brick walls, but are made of wood.

“可能木质材料比较有弹性吧，不像砖墙那样缺乏缓冲。”任兴平说。“我们除了统计房屋损毁情况，也对地震中比较坚固的房屋考察，对以后建筑防震方面提供参考。”景处长说，这栋房屋他们会记录在案，综合研究。

“Maybe wooden materials are more flexible, not lacking cushioning like bricks,” said Ren Xingping. “Other than collecting statistics on damaged buildings, we’re also investigating buildings that were more stable in the earthquake, to supply references for the earthquake resistance aspect of construction later on.” Director Jing said, they will record this house in the files and comprehensively research it.

My apologies for the atrocious translation. In my defence, I’m kinda tired having woken up at around 5 the last two mornings, I’m not so familiar with construction terminology, and the resources I have weren’t overly helpful at clearing up all of my questions. What, for example, is 砖混结构楼? I wound up having to decipher this Baidu Baike article and then trying to make up some term that seemed to fit.

And I have heard that wood is actually a better building material for earthquakes because it is both strong and flexible, and therefore can roll with the punches, whereas bricks and concrete, although strong, are rigid and resist the shaking, and therefore crumble.

Oh, and on the subject of awesome earthquake stories, check this out:

  “地图上的直线距离才25厘米，不远，走!”14日凌晨1时许，在一个“赴四川救灾可行性分析紧急会议”之后，山东莒县洛河镇东皂湖村的10位村民，提上50公斤山东大煎饼，开着一辆农用三轮车，颠簸了四天三夜，走了3000余公里，终于抵达四川参加抗震救灾。

“On the map it’s only 25 centimetres as the crow flies, not far, let’s go!” At around 1 am on the 14th, after an “Urgent Meeting to Analyse the Feasibility of Going to Sichuan for Disaster Relief”, 10 residents of  Dongzaohu Village, Luohe Township, Ying County, Shandong, carrying 50 kg of Shandong pancakes, driving an agricultural tricycle, jolted their way for four days and three nights over 3000 km, finally reaching Sichuan to take part in the earthquake relief.

Now that is awesome.