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Released: August 1, 2005
Millions of people in urban areas throughout India stand to benefit from a pilot
project now underway in Delhi, India to improve the seismic safety of existing buildings there.
India has one of the greatest seismic risks in the world. About 610 million people reside in the
area of highest seismic risk in the north, where there have been seven large-magnitude earthquakes
during the last 100 years. To help reduce this risk, USAID funded GeoHazards International (GHI),
a Palo Alto-based non-profit serving earthquake-threatened communities world wide, to work with
the Government of India on the transfer of American earthquake retrofit technology and experience.
The pilot project, US Assistance to Seismic Retrofitting of Lifeline Buildings in Delhi, India, will
analyze five groups of buildings in Delhi and facilitate a potential nation-wide movement to reduce
earthquake risk in India. "Lifeline" buildings are needed after earthquakes. They include hospitals,
schools, police headquarters and key government buildings. The 3-year project, initiated in 2002 by GHI,
includes preparing designs for retrofit of the selected lifeline buildings, developing decision-making
procedures, building capacity for similar work elsewhere in India, and fostering relationships among Indian
and US engineers.
In April, American experts participated in a peer review panel meeting held in Delhi. Now GHI will
host 14 Indian earthquake engineers and government officials responsible for earthquake safety who are
coming from Delhi to the San Francisco Bay Area
the week of August 7-14 for the second peer review panel meeting. The visitors will collaborate with their California counterparts in
Palo Alto, and participate in on-site tours of earthquake retrofit projects in Berkeley at the University of California campus, and selected
buildings owned by the cities of Berkeley and San Francisco. "Local experts will serve as guides to demonstrate the lessons
Californians learned when retrofitting buildings during the last 30 years,"
according to L. Thomas Tobin of GHI, who serves on the project's U.S.-Indian Peer Review Panel.
"Improved seismic safety requires cutting-edge engineering 'know how' and wise facilities management
practices. This visit by our colleagues from Delhi will strengthen their capacity to reduce seismic
risks in the earthquake-prone cities of India," says Tobin.
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FACTS
Large, fatal Earthquakes in India over the past 100 years (USGS, 2001)
MAP
SHOWING EARTHQUAKE ZONES IN INDIA
For further information contact:
Brian E. Tucker
GeoHazards International
(650) 614-9050
tucker@geohaz.org
GeoHazards International periodically issues press releases to
raise awareness about the dangers from natural disasters faced
by vulnerable communities around the world.
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