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Central Asia
Our work to help develop a culture of community-based disaster mitigation in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan is now reaching conclusion. This 3-year project, funded by the USAID Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance (OFDA), has involved working with NGO partners there to improve disaster
preparedness in schools, hospitals and the self-built housing sector. Video production funded by
a $10,000 grant from Risk Management Solutions (RMS) is nearing completion. The 10-part educational
series will soon be broadcast on main television stations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan, in the Russian, Kazak, Uzbek and Tajik languages. The showing of these films, like
the integration of the Introduction to Community-Based Disaster Mitigation course into the curriculum
of four universities, will maintain a presence of our work in Central Asia. In early November I
met in Kazakhstan with our regional NGO partners to review our work to date and plan future GHI
projects in Central Asia.
India
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Our USAID-funded project in India enables us to help strengthen the capacity of the Delhi
Public Works Department through the retrofit of five buildings: the Delhi Secretariat, the Delhi
Police Headquarters, the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, the Ludlow Castle School, and the Office
of the Divisional Commissioner. In early August, GHI hosted 14 guests from Delhi, India who came
to Palo Alto for a full week. Participants in this Second Peer Review Meeting of The Delhi
Earthquake Safety Initiative for Lifeline Buildings are shown in this photo taken between
meeting sessions in Palo Alto. The project in India involves the National Disaster Management
Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority,
Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Government of Delhi. The group participated in site visits
to retrofitted buildings in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco. They engaged in discussions with
California earthquake engineers, building officials and policy makers who helped create the
environment that made the Californian retrofits possible. Indian experts and members of engineering
teams responsible for retrofitting the Delhi buildings presented analyses of their progress and
challenges to date.
In India, considerable media attention has been directed to the project. Although not always
cited by name, GHI is often behind such references as that in the October 15, 2005 The Economist:
"…A way has to be found to reduce the deadliness of quakes in the most vulnerable areas. Yet earthquakes
cannot be predicted accurately enough to know when people should be evacuated. It is all the harder
in the Himalayan region, with hidden underground faults that are poorly monitored by seismic
instruments. That leaves two options, other than fatalism: to put up better buildings, and to
improve planning for responding to disasters. Progress is slow. Key buildings in need of better
earthquake-proofing have been identified in Delhi, and work is underway" (from "Earthquake science:
Preparing for the unknowable").
The Third Peer Review Meeting will take place December 5-9 in Delhi. At this time designs will
be finalized. We hope that a USAID grant extension will enable us to continue our work in Delhi
through completion of construction.
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