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Post-tsunami Actions
During the past months we have all observed the world’s outpouring
of sympathy and assistance for the victims of the worst natural
disaster in living memory. The December 26, 2004 South Asia
tsunami and its aftermath demonstrate the fragility of vulnerable
and at-risk regions in the world for which GHI envisions a stronger
and safer future.
Our first response involved working with our Indian NGO partner
SEEDS (Sustainable
Environment and Ecological Development Society) to assist
in both the initial and continuing relief efforts in the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands. More than 190 donors contributed almost
$50,000 to the GHI/SEEDS sponsored effort there. We are grateful
for this expression of trust in our work, and, most important,
for this opportunity to help.
Although the need for disaster relief in South Asia is great,
it is also both humane and urgent that we take a longer, strategic
view of the developing world’s rapidly increasing natural disaster
risk. In accordance with our mission, we now seek to broaden
our current relief assistance in India and other threatened
regions with substantive, post-tsunami disaster preparedness,
prevention and mitigation measures. We have developed a new
GHI brochure to describe how GHI can help make tsunami warning
systems effective. On behalf of GHI, Tom Tobin attended a UNESCO-organized
conference in Paris (March 4-6) about responding to the recent
tsunami. He learned that there is considerable effort in designing
and deploying hardware to issue tsunami warnings, but there
is a need for more effort in preparing communities on how to
respond to warnings. This is what GHI can do. We have submitted
our proposal to develop and apply tools for community-based
tsunami response and mitigation planning to several major funding
agencies.
GHI’s USAID-funded Indian Earthquake Safety Initiative entered
a new phase with a Roll Out Workshop held April 28-29 in New
Delhi. This event launched a project that will provide earthquake
engineering advice on the retrofit of five selected “lifeline”
buildings in Delhi. Visit www.quakesafedelhi.net GHI staff member Tom Tobin and GHI Board
member Anselm Smolka presented at the two-day workshop, which
featured the Honorable Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of the
National Capital Territory of Delhi, who, as the Chief Guest,
delivered an inaugural address. Jorge Meneses, Project Director,
has worked with local Delhi officials to select the five buildings,
which include a school, hospital, police headquarters, the Delhi
Secretariat, and the Divisional Commissioner’s Office. Marla
Petal, GHI staff member, presented educational materials for
stakeholders of the health and education sectors in Delhi at
the project’s May 2-4 Refresher Course. A first Review Panel
Meeting took place May 5-7 to complete the project launch. Services
that GHI will provide in this project include: 1) offering technical
advice through the involvement of American and India experts,
2) the transfer and exchange of seismic safety knowledge from
United States experts to selected Indian experts in Delhi, and
3) raising awareness on seismic safety of stakeholders in the
health and education sectors.
Since April 1, 2005, Hari Kumar has served as the GHI Delhi
representative for the project. Anna F. Lang, a graduate student
in Civil Engineering at the University of California, San Diego,
will serve as a part-time intern with the project. US specialists
in earthquakes engaged by GHI to contribute to this project include Roger Bilham, Kip Edwards, Mel Green, Bill Holmes
and Izzat (Ed) Idriss. The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs will closely
observe the project with the expectation that it might serve
as a pilot to be replicated nationally.
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