Liuzhou Prefabricated Concrete Houses
Prefabricated concrete houses in Liuzhou are vulnerable in earthquakes, with poor seismic resistance and significant safety hazards, requiring demolition or reinforcement based on actual conditions.
Performance in Earthquakes
On May 18, 2026, a shallow magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck Liuzhou, Guangxi, causing the immediate collapse of 13 buildings in Liunan District, all of which were old prefabricated panel houses/brick-concrete houses, resulting in 2 fatalities and 5 injuries. Historical earthquakes, such as the Wenchuan earthquake, have also confirmed that prefabricated panel houses are the most prone to collapse and cause the most severe casualties during earthquakes.
Construction Background and Techniques
From the 1970s to the 1990s, to rapidly address housing shortages, the “prefabricated concrete panel on-site assembly” technique was widely used for house construction, commonly known as “big panel buildings”. The floor panels are connected through panel seams, which are fragile and result in poor structural integrity. The specific method involves first building brick walls, placing the reinforcing bars at both ends of the prefabricated panels on the walls, and then pouring concrete for fixation. However, this fixation effect is highly prone to failure during earthquakes.
Seismic Resistance
Prefabricated panel buildings constructed in the 1980s were designed to withstand only earthquakes of magnitude 3-4, far below the intensity of the magnitude 5.2 earthquake in Liuzhou. During an earthquake, after the walls crack, the heavy floor panels can be thrown off from the weakly fixed ends and crash down onto the lower floors, causing the entire building to collapse like dominoes.
Issues with Elevator Installation
Installing elevators in old prefabricated panel houses poses significant risks, and many places have explicitly prohibited it. The reasons include: damaging the main structure, further weakening seismic resistance; the additional load may collapse the already dangerous building; and construction vibrations accelerate the aging of the building.
Current Situation and Handling Suggestions
There are still over ten million prefabricated panel houses across the country, with approximately 15% requiring urgent demolition. It is recommended to conduct a comprehensive safety inspection of all prefabricated panel houses. Houses that do not meet seismic standards or have severe structural damage should be included in the demolition list without exception; for houses that can be reinforced, the state should take the lead in funding the reinforcement, and consider renovation only after they meet the standards. Demolition can adopt a model of “government subsidies + public contributions + in-situ reconstruction/relocation”, ensuring that resident safety and housing improvement proceed simultaneously.
