Education and training for disasters

1. Status of Education and Training in Earthquake Engineering in India
2. An aborted attempt in 1993 to undertake a microzonation study of Delhi, for earthquake risk, by a consortium of educational and other institutions.

The physical features of the three disasters covered by the theme of the Workshop are quite different. Earthquakes and floods are natural disasters, and fires are man-made. However, the mitigation and management aspects of these disasters have much common. I have been personally associated with earthquakes as an engineer, teacher and as a research worker. I would, therefore, restrict this address to earthquakes.

Education and training
A formal programme in Education and Training in Earthquake Engineering was set up at the University of Roorkee in 1960 in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology, USA. A School of Education and Training in Earthquake Engineering was established with the assistance of CSIR, which was later converted into the Department of Earthquake Engineering with the financial support from University Grants Commission (UGC). The Department offers two Post Graduate programmes leading to M.Tech Degrees covering Earthquake Engineering, Soil Dynamics and Instrumentation. It also offers under Graduate courses to the students specializing in Civil Engineering and Architecture and Town Planning.

The Department has wide range of experimental facilities, including a two dimensional Shake Table, and has been involved in a earthquake resistant analysis and design of a large number of engineering projects in the country. It also operates a network of seismic instruments across the county with a view to understand the ground motion characteristics and seismically of various regions. A large number of studies leading to Ph.D degrees on various aspects of Earthquake Engineering have been completed in the Department. The Department has provided leadership in formulating Codes on various aspects of Earthquake Engineering. The R&D work in the Department on Non-Engineered Construction to resist Earthquakes and a Monograph on this aspect published by it, has received world-wide recognition. The Indian Society of Earthquake Technology (ISET), with headquarters at Roorkee, and several local Chapters, serves as the national professional body in the field of Earthquake Engineering. It publishes a Journal and a News Letter.

Over the past four decades, teaching, research and extension programmes in Earthquake Engineering have been started in several engineering institutions across the county. The prominent amount these institutions are : Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; IITs at Kanpur, Bombay, Delhi and Madras. These institutions offer courses related to Earthquake Engineering at the Post Graduate level and in some institution also at the Under Graduate level. They are actively engaged in research and extension in the field of Earthquake Engineering. Several other engineering institutions also offer courses on various aspects of Earthquake Engineering. Short-team courses on Earthquake Engineering for teachers in engineering institutions and for practicing engineers are also offered by these institutions.

Earthquake Engineering group at IIT Kanpur has taken several initiatives which need a special mention. A National Information Centre on Earthquake Engineering has been recently set-up through national and international support. The Cenre will make available information on various aspects of Earthquake Engineering to individuals and institutions. This initiative needs country wide support to achieve its goals. The group at IIT Kanpur has successfully organized several courses for practicing engineers, which have received an enthusiastic response. It has also been active in critical reviews of our codes, and their revisions.

The strong motion earthquakes provide a living laboratory to study various aspects of Earthquake Engineering. Teams consisting of teachers and students from various academic institutions have been involved in post earthquake studies. Reports based on these studies during the recent earthquakes at Uttar Kaswhi, Chamoli, Jabalpur and Latur have provided valuable insights into the earthquake effects on a wide range of structures. The importance of Earthquake Engineering education is succinctly summed up by Profs. N.M. Newmark and E. Rosenbluth in the Introduction to their classic book.

-Fundamentals of earthquake engineering
In a way Earthquake Engineering is a cartoon of other branches of Engineering. Earthquake effect on structures systematically bring out the mistakes made in design and construction to minutest details.

This aspect of Earthquake Engineering makes it challenging and fascinating and give it an educational value beyond its immediate objective. If a civil engineer is to acquire a fruitful experience in a brief span of time expose him to the concepts of Earthquake Engineering-no matter whether he will later work in earthquake country or not.

Besides academic institutions, Earthquake Engineering research and extension is being pursued by the Civil Engineering laboratories of CSIR, namely, CBRI, Roorkee; Structural Engineering Research Centre at Chennai and Ghaziabad, and Central Road Research Institute, Delhi. The Water Resources Research Station at Pune has an active group on some aspects of Earthquake Engineering. Among the industries Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), Housing and Development Corporation (HUDCO) and Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) have been engaged on various studies relating to Earthquake Engineering.

In India we have, large number of institutions engaged in various aspects of Earthquake Engineering. To mitigate and manage the future disasters, it is necessary that these institutions network with each other as part of a national level plan.

Microzonation of Delhi for seismic risk
In 1993, immediately after the Latur earthquake, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) showed concern regarding the vulnerability of metros in seismically active regions. IIT Delhi was approached to advise on the steps that may be taken in this directions. After some discussion it was decided that an exercise to prepare the microzonation map of Delhi be undertaken, through a consortium consisting of academic institutions, research laboratories, government departments, consulting engineers and NGOs. Two workshops were organized with representatives from IIT Delhi, Kanapur University of Delhi School of planning.