CORROSION RISK ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS AFFECTED BY THE 2004 TSUNAMI IN BANDA ACEH

Banda Aceh region has a coastal environment and frequent earthquakes. The 2004 Sumatra tsunami caused many buildings to collapse and became submerged by seawater in the region. Thus, the buildings might become susceptible to corrosion, which will reduce their strength. Consequently, sudden failure might happen when even a small earthquake occurs. This study reports a corrosion risk assessment for some reinforced concrete (RC) public buildings in Banda Aceh region in order to understand how the tsunami has influenced the corrosion risk level. The assessment was performed by using half-cell potential mapping technique. Six buildings were chosen: three existing buildings, two newly constructed buildings in the tsunami-affected area and one building located outside that area. The assessments were carried out from 2009 until mid of 2010. The assessment results indicated that the corrosion risk to the existing buildings were at intermediate to severe level. In addition, newly developed buildings were at intermediate level, while outside building was still at low levels. Those findings showed that the RC buildings around the tsunami-affected area, either existing or new buildings, had become corrosive. Therefore, it is important to conduct regular corrosion assessments to prevent early failure due to the coexistence of rebar corrosion and earthquake.