New buildings meet fully safety requirements for earthquakes, fires and other natural disasters and are structurally sound, assured representatives of the Bulgarian Association of Consulting Engineers and Architects (BACEA) at a news conference Wednesday.

According to BACEA President Marin Bakalov, no increase in the number of incidents had been reported during the construction boom of the 2000s.

After consulting engineers have been added to the construction process, control over buildings under construction has improved significantly, Bakalov said. Under existing rules, after 2006 all buildings are issued with technical passports, said Bakalov.

He specified that it is impossible to say whether old or new construction is safer. Bakalov underscored that any structural changes to a building must be recorded in the building's technical passport and should be checked for compliance with requirements.

The tight space between residential buildings should not be a concern during a quake because buildings move only within centimeters, said Svetlana Gyurdjeklieva. Buildings are designed to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 9 on the Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale or 7.5 on the Richter scale. Also, the EU has put in place more stringent safety requirements.

Source: BTA