Quakeschool's blog page

Sikkim Visit- Post 18th Sept. 2011 earthquake

2011-12-12T12:14:00.007+05:30

My second trip to Sikkim this time was well restricted within the state capital, Gangtok. The priority task was to start rehabilitation activities in a damaged school identified during the last trip. It has been a part of our long term agenda of school safety, where through reconstruction of schools we are looking at Sikkim for:

Strengthening of existing school building stock
Introduce and integrating the concepts of safety and accessibility in school buildings
Conducting dissemination programmes on safe construction to various user groups including the local government

To begin with, we started our work in Lumsey Junior School, which is within Gangtok city limits and has two classrooms damaged. The idea is not only to repair the damage and strengthen the school building, but also utilize this opportunity for hands-on training of masons on retrofitting activities. Me and Rehman (from SEEDS) started with interviews and discussions, and taking necessary information from the site including pictures and measurements.

Rapid visual surveys during my first visit and also by the SEEDS team members on their respective visits had helped us finalize Lumsey then. Lumsey seemed to be the best accessible school as we would want various groups such as engineers from various agencies and government departments, schools, and other groups to visit the school and interact. Currently, we are undergoing the process of finalising on a small team and also look forward to conduct our activities in the Junior High until the end of March 2012. Rakhi has joined us on SEEDS payrolls, and two masons from D.A. soon to join us.

Pictures of Lumsey school can be accessed here .

Lumsey Junior High School (Link to Picasa album)

Other than this, I also tried making a note on post earthquake activities undertaken by other agencies. It appeared from the news reports and discussions with peers that a clearer picture on larger funding from the Prime Minister’s and Chief Minister’s and other grants is still awaited by the administration and the civil society. It is interesting to see the debate at all levels on the mode of earthquake response the State should adopt in the future. Talks about meetings and conferences aiming for improvement in bye laws and infrastructure provisioning can be heard.

With a population of 6,00,000, Sikkim is a closely knit society. One and all are aware of the post earthquake consequences in the state, and have empathy for each other. House owners in towns such as Chungthang had to bear heavy losses. The rehabilitation style of an ex-gratia compensation by the government –as in this case, Rs.50,000 does not seem logical enough for a place like Sikkim.

It is unfortunate that one of the most prosperous States of India has no ready technical help available to its people in terms of safer building awareness and construction technology, and/or and/or counseling that would help them cope with this huge disruption in their lives and livelihoods- it being the need of the hour.

***

Written: Chandra Bhakuni

Checks and Reviews: Pratul Ahuja, Shruti Nair, Smriti Saraswat

Engineering Lessons for Sikkim, India Earthquake (Magnitude-6.9)

2011-10-24T11:15:00.011+05:30

I recently visited Sikkim, India after the 18th Sept. earthquake. The trip had a few-fold objectives, them being:

1. To understand the damage to buildings and infrastructure in the region

2. Visit the ‘School buildings’ and other institutional setups to understand the impact of this event

3. Observe the Disaster Response mechanism in place

Based on my field experiences and discussions with various people on this trip, I would like to make a few recommendations; as following:

1. Large engineering companies, universities in Gangtok, and individuals have studied Sikkim to a great extent, and their expertise should be utilized for safety and improvement of infrastructure.

2. The earthquake appears an opportunity for overall developmental improvements (access and amenities) in settlements that are urbanizing, such as worst hit Chungthang.

3. Traditional Wattle and Daub (Collq. Ekra) construction has performed well against the earthquake, and has low damage. This construction should be encouraged, and innovation in this area could yield comfortable and safer houses.

4. The damages in Chungthang have caused mental health issues to houseowners (especially who had made large investments) and counseling is an immediate need.

5. Damages in various school buildings have instilled fear/caution in children. Instead of listening to that fear, perhaps it is more prudent that opportunities are created for learning about earthquakes.

6. Sikkim is an opportunity, and can be shown as an example of collective governance, not only from the safety point of view but also development needs of the North East of Indian subcontinent.

For the detailed report refer www.quakeschool.org/files/110922SikkimEarthquake.html

By [With Acknowledgements]

Mr. Chandra Bhakuni, Structural Engineer, Quakeschool Consulting

[With sincere thanks to Manu and his SEEDS Delhi team, Mrs. Rinkoo Wadhera from local DOU unit, Mr. Prashant Pradhan and his team at Architects of Sikkim , Tshering (School Teacher), Sohel da (Faculty, Sikkim University), Col. Wadhera, Col. Vishal, and Quakeschool team and many others I could meet during this trip.]

***

Magnitude 6.9 Sikkim Earthquake

2011-10-05T07:25:00.006+05:30

Source: Maps Of India

Visit link (click) for updates.

Source: Assorted

Some earthquake feelers by Structural Engineers

2011-07-24T08:05:00.003+05:30

Photos. Typical Reinforced Masonry buildings in India

The earth’s surface is under continuous movement, in other words is always vibrating. However, these vibrations are so low in magnitude that they are not felt by us humans at all; unless they are large in size, which happen during events such as earthquakes.

One of the methods which earthquake experts apply to understand earthquakes and these vibrations is by classifying these in the form of waves. These waves which are generated inside the earth’s crust during an earthquake have their movement in all directions. Known as seismic waves, these waves can be categorized in to two types- 1. Body, and 2. Surface. While the Body wave would move through the body of the earth; the surface wave would take a little longer route because it has to make its way to the nearest earth’s surface first, and thereafter travels as a surface wave. See some simple educational websites Website 1, Website 2 which provide simplified understanding of these earthquake waves.

The science of structural engineering is concerned how these waves travel and when they hit, have an impact on the building.

***

In recent last one year history has seen two unfortunate earthquake events, with some significant aftershocks. New Zealand and Japan, faraway places were in news. Last year significant damage was noted in other places such as Chile as well. See what the Structural Engineers have to say about what they felt:

New Zealand (22^nd Feb 2011)

Roberto T. Leon, president of the Structural Engineering Institute, ASCE has an interesting blog on being present in Christchurch, New Zealand when the 2nd earthquake had unexpectedly stuck there. The whole blog is an interesting read, where in a portion he summarizes a comparison with the Chilean event.

It was eerily different for me because my most recent recollections are from the large Chilean earthquakes that I experienced last year. The Chilean ones “build up” slowly and last a very long time. This one seemed to be three or four very sudden, violent jerks, with a strong vertical feel, and lasting probably no more than 15 seconds or so.

Japan (11^th March 2011)

Balaji, a friend and a structural engineer, was in the fourth floor his ten storey office building in Tokyo when the earthquake stuck. Pretty much inland where the Tsunami could not reach, a few days later he told me over Skype [http://skype.com] how he first felt the body wave which came stinging in no time and took him off ground, and then he waited for the surface waves to arrive. While he prepared himself for a floor dance, for the surface wave would arrive in no time, next moment he saw his colleague flying away and his back curved hitting the wall. It was a nasty bump but thankfully both are safe. The buildings their colleagues designed ensured they are.

***

Ten years back, I personally felt the Gujarat, India earthquake (26^th Jan 2001), because it lasted for approximately two minutes. Halfway, it woke me up from my sleep; and the ground plus two building I was in, a typical Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) confined structure [See pictures] took the shaking well. One can contend such buildings, which are a typical design for institutional buildings across India, therefore take building movements and uncertainties into consideration when designing/constructing one. Otherwise, many buildings which are built keeping only enclosure in mind were not that lucky. Many had collapsed. A structural engineer colleague of mine, when we were students, in all this chaos, was wise in saying,

… either you design the building so stiff that nothing happens to it, or make it so flexible that you can bend or twist it endlessly anywhere, or you make the joint so ductile that no matter what the earthquake force or duration is, let it be endless, the joint shall never ever snap out.

***

Website 1: http://www.matter.org.uk/schools/content/seismology/pandswaves.html

Website 2: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/?topicID=63

ASCE President blog: http://www.asce.org/PPLContent.aspx?id=12884904978

Skype: http://skype.com

Pictures of Typical Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) confined structure

Recent notification by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on disaster resilient construction

2011-06-29T13:28:00.000+05:30

Thanks to Anup Karanth for providing an update on a significant move by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) towards making buildings and infrastructure more disaster resilient. Please refer below an e-mail I received from Anup Karanth (Anup is a Civil Engineer and Planner working extensively in Disaster Management and Capacity Building sector) for more details on this development. It is indeed encouraging that the RBI has come out with a notification on this issue, which may go a long way in ensuring that the NDMA Guidelines are taken more seriously.

One can download the document here (In English, directly from Government of India NDMA Website - or from our website.

In verbatim below:

From: Anup Karanth [mailto:anup.karanth@gmail.com]
Sent: 01 June 2011 12:42
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: National Disaster Management Guidelines on Ensuring Disaster Resilient construction of Buildings and Infrastructure (NDMA, GoI)

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India has formulated guidelines on ensuring disaster resilient construction of buildings and infrastructure financed through banks and other lending institutions. The NDMA has observed that in the context of disaster resilience there are certain critical gaps and the guidelines aim at addressing these gaps in the current process of approving the loan applications. It has been observed that the structural design of the proposed buildings and structures are not completed before submitting the application for a bank loan and no processes are in place at the banks to ensure that disaster resilience has indeed been incorporated in the assets during the design process at least before the construction begins. A copy of National Disaster Management Guidelines on Ensuring Disaster Resilient construction of Buildings and Infrastructure, September 2010 is enclosed.

India’s National Building Code on Staircases in Educational Buildings (Some Safety Clauses)

2011-06-20T16:35:00.007+05:30

image source: http://supercoloring.com

During emergencies, most school buildings and educational facilities in India appear to be critical at staircases- many appear structurally questionable, as well as like bottlenecks to an otherwise safe passage.

The National Building Code (NBC) by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), also known as SP-7:2005 contains useful clauses on staircases, which apply to educational buildings, and are implementable across the country. We have extracted some information and have simplified it. The following information can be used as a checklist also.

***

 Design from a particular floor to evacuate in 2.5 min (Type 1), 1.5 min (Type 2), 1 min (Type 3), Not specified for Type 4

 For buildings greater than 15 m height and 500 m2 in each floor:
o Minimum 2 staircases
o These should be of enclosed type
o At least one staircase on exterior wall as a facility outside also

 Exit doors:
o No exit doorway to be less than 1000mm in width
o Exit doors to open outward
o Exit door shall not open immediately upon a flight of stairs, a landing equal to at least the width of the door shall be provided in the stairway at each doorway; the level of landing shall be the same as that of the floor which it serves
o Exit doorways shall open from the side, to serve without the use of a key

 Where stairways discharge through corridor and passage ways, the height of corridors and passage ways shall not be less than 2.4m

 Ensure all means of exit, such as lobbies, passages, staircases are well-ventilated

 Internal staircases should:
o be of non combustible material
o be a self contained unit, enclosed, and with one side made of external wall
o not be arranged around a lift shaft
o not be of hollow combustible construction
o not have gas piping or electrical panels along the stairway
o can have ducting if it provides 1hour of fire rating.
o have dimensions of:
- minimum staircase width = 1.5 m
- minimum tread width = 300mm
- maximum riser height = 190mm
- maximum 15 risers per flight
- handrail height = 1.0m
- minimum head room = 2.2m
o one flight between landings shall be designed for maximum number of people occupying that floor
o not have any fire risk spaces opening directly on to staircase
o have their external exit door at ground level, and should open directly to open spaces, or large lobby, if necessary
o Main stairs to be continuous from ground to terrace
o Should not have any combustible decoration
o have clearly visible Exit signs
o show individual floors

 Pressurization of staircases should be thought of, which means that although fire spread is controlled by compartmentalization of staircases in design, ingress of smoke and toxic gasses perhaps cannot be avoided. Exclusion of smoke and toxic gases from protected route is important for safe passage. Therefore, in high rise buildings air can be injected in order to raise the pressure of the stair compartment.

 External staircases are desirable for high rise buildings, and when provided shall comply to the following:
o All external staircases should be directly connected to ground
o Entrance to external staircase shall be separate and remote from internal staircase
o No door or window opening shutter shall obstruct the staircase
o Should be kept in sound operable conditions
o Should be kept obstruction free
o The external staircase shall be constructed of non combustible materials, and any doorway leading to it shall have the required fire resistance
o No external staircase, used as a fire escape, shall be inclined at an angle greater than 45 deg. From the horizontal
o Some dimensions
- Staircase flight width = 1250mm
- Minimum tread = 250mm
- Maximum riser = 190mm
- Maximum risers per flight = 15
o Spiral staircase can be employed but should be
- limited to a building not higher than 9m
- designed for a low occupant load
- not less than 1500 in diameter
- designed for an adequate headroom

The above are points directly quoted by the Indian National Building Code, and should be useful in designing safer staircases for evacuation in educational buildings.

Some clauses in the code, like this one, need changing. Improvements are endless and like other international codes can be issued as amendments.

Risk Reduction Techniques-ALARA

2011-03-22T16:10:00.003+05:30

In one of our previous blogs < http://quakeschool.blogspot.com/2010/11/approaches-in-risk-reduction-alarp.html> we spoke of some Risk Reduction concepts, and discussed ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) as an approach for risk reduction- this being our attempt to explore various approaches and concepts of use today in the Risk Management sector. The other widely used and known concepts are- ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) and SFAIRP (So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable). The main aim of these concepts is to assist clarity when an attempt is made to achieve Safety.

Let us discuss ALARA in this post.

ALARA is a risk reduction technique used in the field of ‘Radiation Protection’ to minimize the risk of radioactive exposure to humans. While, all the social and economic factors are taken into consideration with their own uncertainties involved, it requires that all reasonable steps are taken for protection; in other words, all must be done to lower radiation exposures below dose limits. ALARA is a regulatory requirement for almost all radiation safety programs the world over, and is found to be a sound safety principle. The risk is persistent; therefore, ALARA becomes a stricter standard than ALARP.

For example, the North Carolina State University (NCSU) <http://www.ncsu.edu/ehs/radiation/forms/alara.pdf> has its radiation safety program which attempts to lower radiation exposure received by workers by using cost effective measures. Every radiation exposure can have unfavorable effects which may result in increased risk of genetic mutation and cancer. ALARA also requires commitment to safety by all those involved. North Carolina code contains guidelines and regulations that require radiation workers to adhere to legal dose (exposure) limits as part of regulatory compliance.

Have a closer look again at the diagram. There is a clear distinguishing line between ‘Tolerable Region’ and ‘Un acceptable Region’, because in the former, risk is undertaken only if a benefit is desired; and in the latter, level of risk is not acceptable and is subject to continuous monitoring. To understand this, one can compare safety protocols needed in a simple ‘Office Building’ to a ‘Hospital or a School Building’.

Keywords

ALARA, ALARP, Risk Reduction Techniques, As Low As Reasonably Practicable, As Low As Reasonably Achievable, Radiation Protection

Owner’s responsibility and School Safety Audits in India

2011-02-03T12:41:00.006+05:30

In the India of today, we notice that a perseverant and systematic approach towards school safety or for that matter safety in educational habitats is required. Today, one can argue and probably agree at the same time that even the best of the nations struggle to come up with a strategy to effectively deal with this issue, and probably there is no end. The suggestions which come to us range from easy sounding ones such as creating law and legislative mechanisms to perhaps the most complex such as creating opportunities for the educational spaces owners to take responsibility; thus, as a collective towards achieving ‘Zero Life Loss’. Then one recalls the figures overwhelming in India, one can add other educational spaces, approximately 1.2 Million reported Secondary Schools* (figure source: DISE’s http://www.schoolreportcards.in/).

The following five form important components of conducting safety audits at individual schools, placed in order of priority, we think at this moment:

The robustness of building structure
The school assumes responsible stance during an emergency
There exists an Emergency Management Plan within the school
Help from external resource agencies such as firefighting, life saving and health, and rescue teams is available
Awareness and training programmes, and school habitat improvement is a continual activity

A detailed audit as above is important, but for schools a simple checklist like this (link) can be useful to its owners. While, many known agencies have been doing this important work at higher/top/policy levels, there is a dire need for a harder push and implementation at the ground level as well. There is a significant cost at the field implementation/grassroots level, which needs to be put in to operational and management plans. When risk and benefits are compared, this cost becomes trivial compared to its usefulness.

One can also argue, that it is actually the school’s own responsible stance which is helping to date, and to an extent sporadic and periodic work by responsible individuals which has helped this process. If one collects recent statistics, it may come out that perhaps schools in India are one of the safest in the world, but there still remains a lot to do as one cannot afford to get complacent in the light of rapid development and changes being seen in this part of the world, or for that matter any part of the world.

---

*Formal schooling system in India: Kindergarten for three years, then twelve years of school, thereafter college and higher education.

The importance of playgrounds in school spaces

2010-12-11T12:48:00.009+05:30

India is a big country with a growing population as a concerning issue. There is an increase in construction activities such as, construction of flats, malls bungalows and so on. With land becoming scarce in these areas there is an increase in traffic, and problems of parking, pollution, and so on.

One of India’s biggest cities Ahmedabad, with a population of 52,52,197 has total number of schools at around 2323. (Gujarat Revenue Department) It has been reported that in the country, 52% schools do not have a playground. The same may be applied to Ahmedabad as well (India together). It is also interesting to see a British study (Find Articles) suggesting almost 60% to 80% students injured on school playgrounds. These same playgrounds generally have an important role in mental and physical growth of a child. When children are not involved in any co-curricular activities, they may also suffer from depression, and the proportion of such children according to an Australian study is 8.4%. (Medicine Net). One can note that playgrounds provide an avenue for a child’s mental and physical growth, which can help them bring out their various potentialities. Playgrounds are also useful during emergencies.

If a school does not have a playground, in an emergency situation, school authorities can make provisions for a party-plot, garden, or any such empty space close by so that children can be assembled during emergencies and their safety/security can be assured.

Sources:

Approaches in Risk Reduction (The ALARP approach)

2010-11-23T10:06:00.006+05:30

Activities at work or play can be hazardous, with it being in our nature to take precautions to protect ourselves from the unexpected accidents or disasters. There always exists a risk, but then a question can be asked- does one need to put efforts so as to reduce this risk, which may result in life, injuries or monetary losses to a minimal, if not zero? If yes, then what kind of effort and how much of it is needed?

In view of these, one can talk of approaches, or one can say frameworks which can be used in defining approaches towards risk reduction. Some of these well known approaches used are –

As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP),
As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA),
So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable (SFAIRP), and
There can be more.

Let us discuss ALARP in this post. ALARP, “As Low As Reasonably Practicable”, can be defined as an approach to reduce the risk to as low as possible using best available practices and standards. Here, “best Practice” can be referred to the best available technology in the best practicable environmental conditions. See Knol for a good explanation. Also see the figure below.

It is interesting to look at the HSE, UK for the definition of ALARP, and see how it came into existence. The case law of Edwards V. National Coal Board in 1949 became an act in 1974. The blog by Safety Health Environment Ltd, is useful to look at where Edward’s fatal accident, when a section of the road on which he was traveling subsided. The section of road concerned had no timber support although other sections were properly supported. Lord Asquith (the judge in National Coal Board) decided that it was not all of the roadways that needed shoring up; just the ones that required it. The Court of Appeal then decided that if the ‘consequences’ and the ‘degree of the risk’ are small and the ‘cost of the measures’ to reduce the risk is very expensive, it would be unreasonable to incur that cost. The UK legislation (Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974) then defined ALARP where they ensured that all plants/equipments and systems at work are safe and without risks to health, or life.

In monetary terms, ALARP is subject to cost-benefit based risk reduction; where the benefit should outweigh the cost.

Figure: A typical Risk Reduction Approach Diagram

Therefore, it is more a best common practice of judgement to balance risk and benefit. ALARP is not used in the same way by other countries as in the UK, for it may be interpreted according to the local culture. There are similar other approaches like ALARA and SFAIRP which will need mentioning.

Other Reference Sources and Links:

Health and Safety Executive (http://www.hse.gov.uk)
Knol (http://knol.google.com/k/alarp-as-low-as-reasonably-practicable-risk#)
Risk Portal.com (http://www.riskportal.com/images/stories/new-insights/ALARP.jpg)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALARP)
A blog by Safety Health Environmental Services (http://safety-health-environment-law.blogspot.com/2010/01/edwards-v-national-coal-board.html)
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm)

Earthquake Threat in the Indian Subcontinent- India Seismic Zone Map and its Field Implementation

2010-10-21T18:49:00.010+05:30

It is well established that 60% of India’s population is estimated to be directly under earthquake threat. And, add some more to it, it will cover the whole South Asian subcontinent. One may like to reiterate that approximately 20% of the present world population lives in the subcontinent, and the region has a 10-15% decadal increase in population. The internet (wikipedia) link elaborately explains composition of these countries. See the image below for the increase in population of India over the last 60 years. The subsequent image shows comparative population increase in the subcontinent.

Figure showing population increase in India (Source: Google Worldbank indicators)

Figure showing population increase in the Indian Subcontinent (Source: Google Worldbank indicators)

This increase in population coupled with concern of quality of structures being built leading to increased risk in these areas is thwarted with a parallel argument; whether things are actually that bad in these growing economies, such as South Asia?

Well, it is easier to immerse oneself in numbers or debate, and therefore, become lost. Or, else one can take note of the red spots in the zoning map with hope. Actually, the inspiration to this post is also the India’s earthquake zoning map until someone unknown re-filled the riskiest zone (Zone V) with red. Image below shows that Zone V is more dangerous than Zone II. Red draws most attention, and zoning can be, for ease of implementation, reflected by the fact that India’s seismic map has four zones now. Note Zone I doesn’t exist anymore in the map. This simplification was done to assist implementation in the vast plural context of India after the unfortunate 2001 Gujarat earthquake. This map is a result of the hard and perseverant intelligent work by the Bureau of Indian Standards along with senior experts such as Dr. Arya, and many other engineers who previously worked and have been working on this overwhelming issue of reducing earthquake vulnerability, or for that matter vulnerability to any natural disasters in the country.

Picture above: Map of India showing earthquake zones of India established by the Indian Standards Institution (BIS)

Source: Google image search. Original source: Bureau of Indian Standards

Or, it can be argued that major factors - such as terrain, political, technological capacities, growth, to name some will continue to challenge the implementation of earthquake risk reduction activities in the subcontinent for the coming years. And in case of India, one can pick these red blocks and see clearly where urgent interventions are required - its North Eastern states, and states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Bihar. Recent devastations in the subcontinent in Kashmir (2005) and Kutch (2001) are well known. These red spots are the riskiest spots, also known as ‘hot spots’. Perhaps, an independent but interconnected framework may help.

Amidst the so called tough ground realities, a stronger coordination is required to avert this ‘time bomb’. “We are sitting on a time bomb”, is what I recall during a meeting with a senior official at Shimla (Zone IV), a nice mellow hill town and state capital of Himanchal Pradesh; situated in a state that is tweaked red. It was 2004 then.

A Useful Tool

Link to Google’s and World bank’s tool for checking a country’s population of last 50 years.

Launch of Quakeschool Website

2010-09-17T14:48:00.008+05:30

We are very happy to launch our website . We hope that this will help us in communicating and providing latest updates about our work, as well as in generating interest of a larger audience with news updates, focused blog writing, and other interesting stuff.

All news items and blogs are carefully selected and meticulously written. The blogs are also translated in two local languages - Hindi and Gujarati. We utilize blogger.com for the open source blog interface.

We have also tried to include a special feature- the ‘Tools Window’. This sits on the website homepage, and provides a space where we can put exclusive links to special digital environments. Presently, it has a few tools, for instance, the first tool, known as ‘Hazard Informer’ helps a lay-person understand how Earthquake Hazard - in more simple terms - ground shakiness, is distributed over the planet. The second tool is the ‘Seismic Risk estimation tool’, which is a more comprehensive tool that estimates the earthquake risk to a facility. The tool is also of use in estimating the potential building damage, life and other potential losses, and further actions which one needs to take up to mitigate these.

We expect the tool count to grow as we go along. Work is underway on some more tools and your comments and suggestions on these are eagerly looked forward to. For example- the Facility Finder we have created for the India School safety portal is a useful resource tool for schools to find proximal external resources which can come in handy during emergencies.

Please contact us if you would like more information on the development of these and such similar tools.

We would like to thank Sumeet for his hard work and patience in uploading the website using the open source interface Joomla.

We hope that you will enjoy surfing our website.

Some thoughts on Education Infrastructure in Developing Countries

2010-08-19T12:08:00.001+05:30

Schools are an integral feature in which the future citizens of the society are moulded to become responsible citizens. Hence it is necessary that the environment in which schools operate induces a sense of security, comfort and creativity in the students. Structurally safe and sound classrooms are imperative to install a sense of security in the students, and spacious and properly designed playgrounds where students unwind in recess are also an important feature of any school. Most of this is missing in a majority of schools in various cities and towns in the developing world. Schools crammed up in shopping complexes without even basic facilities of space and quality education are mushrooming in India, where we live. Also, these schools are located in risky areas as they are located in busy sections of a city without any place for school playgrounds, and no space for the students to play and unwind during recess.

Also there exists a great risk during fire and other unexpected events. The students are forced to mingle with the crowd and traffic outside since there is no way where they can have a dedicated space of their own. This causes serious safety concerns. Provision of open spaces, head counting and other simple crisis management techniques can be applied to improve the situation.

There are some preventive measures – such as, care can be taken to ensure that there is provisioning for first aid in the school premises, and serious medical emergencies are further catered by ensuring proper connectivity with the nearby hospitals. Fire safety drills should be introduced in the schools. There should be separate drills for external emergencies like earthquakes, bomb threats, etc. Proper emphasis should be given on the evacuation plans. Another important aspect is the accessibility of the school - dry runs (evacuation drills) may also tell if there are access problems for fire vehicles and ambulances. Over all, the safety of the premises needs to be taken very seriously so that the safety of the students is not compromised.

Safe schools are in everyone’s interest. By inculcating a sense of ‘security’ and ‘ease’ in the school environment, we can ensure that students perform to their best and their full potential is realized.

Damaging Earthquakes in the first half of 2010

2010-07-22T12:44:00.020+05:30

Representative map showing significant earthquake events.

Image: Quakeschool 2010 (January 2010 to Jun 2010)

It is well known now that earthquakes are a common phenomenon across the globe, and the events which have significant loss to life and property, come into limelight. Perhaps, one major reason which contributes to this anxiety and concern is a common person’s increasing exposure to the Media and Communication tools - such as internet. An interesting study on such influence influencing even the technical observations has been made by [Hough, Martin, Bilham and Atkinson].

However, by cautiously using this same source internet, we can create a table below. This table and the map above show damaging earthquakes in the first quarter of this year ‘2010.

One focus here can be the schools/education infrastructure – and the loss of life, injuries and building damage in these. Also, take note of timings when these earthquakes occurred.

We do not intend to provide any conclusions here, and would like to leave this post for reader’s observation.

Table showing Earthquake events with significant losses

*Count*	Local time*	*Universal Date (2010)*	Magnitude**	*Location*	Life loss*	School( Life-Loss/ Injuries/Building damage)*
1	04:53 AM	January 12^th	7.0	HAITI REGION	2,33,000	No life loss and injuries. Note: non-school hours Approximately 5000 school buildings affected.
2	03:34 AM	February 27^th	8.8	Maule Region of Chile	432 to 700	No life loss and injuries. Note: non-school hours / vacation period Various News report on damage to education infrastructure. A rough estimate is of damage to approximately 1000 schools.
3	12:45 PM	February 27^th	6.1	Salta, Argentina	2	No life loss and injuries. Small buildings, such as shacks or poorly built ones were damaged. No figures.
4	04:32 AM	March 8^th	6.0	Okcular, Elâzığ Province, Turkey	57	No life loss and injuries. Note: non-school hours Damage to typical one storey buildings which dominate the region (typical school buildings). No figures.
5	07:39 AM	March 11^th	6.9	Pichilemu, Chile	2	No life loss and injuries. Note: non-school hours It appears that the building damage has been low.
6	15:40 PM	April 04^th	7.2	Baja California, Mexico	2	No life loss and injuries. It appears that the building damage has been low, but concerning damages to few schools.
7	07:49 AM	April 13^th	6.9	Southern Qinghai, China region	2,200	Loss of life: Approximately between 60 to 100 school children. Injuries: Approximately 700 school children Poor quality construction has been blamed with approximately 10 school buildings completely destroyed.
8	04:58 AM	April 18^th	5.3	Afghanistan region	10	No life loss and injuries. Note: non-school hours Roughly 20 schools buildings affected.
9	12:16 PM and series	June 16^th	7.0	Papua, Indonesia	17	No figures on life loss and injuries could be found; probably because it was on Sunday. approximately 50 schools buildings were affected

* Note that some numbers may be approximate and parameters generic. This is for ease of communication.
**This is a simplified table; therefore complicated units have been removed. For details, see references.

References

1. Wikipedia list of 2010 earthquakes (21st Century Earthquakes)

2. United States Geological Survey (http://earthquake.usgs.gov)

3. Varied sources (news/reports) on the internet

Risk of a Stampede

2010-06-21T10:07:00.006+05:30

This is in continuation to our previous post. As correctly put across by many of our friends and which we agree to, safety-drills in schools is definitely a step forward in saving lives. We also intend to continue this discussion, because we feel a few questions were left unanswered in our last post. These are as following:

What is the likelihood of a stampede when conducting such evacuation drills in schools?
Drop-Duck-Cover-Hold versus other methods?
Why authorities in developing countries are blamed complacent about conducting such drills?

While we leave it to later or subject specific experts to comment the last two of the above, we surely can put across a viewpoint for the first one.

The answer is, the likelihood is VERY LOW; and perhaps needs an explanation.

While a false alarm may cause panic - evacuation drills and actual disaster events (natural) are mostly coordinated events. The likelihood could have been Zero/Nil, but stampedes might occur when spaces are crowded. Crowd management is one answer, and the researches continue and awarenesses increase. See for example, Wikipedia lists about thirty stampede related events in the last century, and now thirty in the first decade itself. One thing we can note that is our exposure to such information has increased. Other thing to note is that people, unlike or like animals, when they don’t have a clear sense of purpose in being present in a place, and a place overcrowded, become victims of chaos and stampede. Events like riots, congregation for a sporting event or a religious ceremony are the only examples in the list - others can be put in as outliers.

Thankfully, in most places where education and its spaces are taken seriously, much of the problem is averted by mere alertness and prevention.

Emergency planning, small passages, barricades or no barricade, control crowd flow, work on a balanced crowd ratio (or movement) in a crowded space are some examples.

And, Schools and educational places are the places where this can be taught.

***

Stampedes, scientifically (more precisely in Physics) are in the domain of a word called ‘Impulse’. Impulse is also defined as change in momentum of a body, in other words, changes in Mass and Velocities of relative bodies. And when there are too many bodies, there is bound to be various speeds and masses, and these bodies would collide.

Two ways –human’s can act beyond natural is perhaps as following:

By controlling speed variation
Make oneself lighter

Not only keep your instincts natural when getting out, keep your speed in check, and off your weight from the other. In other words, keep it easy and cautious together when the alarm bell rings.

***

References:

Dec 1^st 1958 Chicago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyslGbvSdxE&feature=related
Wikipedia definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stampede
Google search on definition of stampede http://www.google.co.in/search?q=define%3A+stampede&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Google search on definition of impulse http://www.google.co.in/search?q=define%3A+Impulse&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Through Wikipedia a news report tells us, how not to follow the flow and fall flat on the chest http://www.slate.com/id/2209135/

An Important Drill

2010-05-18T11:48:00.020+05:30

Recently, on the 5^th of April, an NGO Geo Hazards with its partners conducted a massive earthquake safety drill event with the Tibetan schools in the high earthquake risk zones in India. We call it massive, because the drill extended to six states across the country, with about sixteen thousand school children participating.

These earthquake drills, a subject of specialization, can throw up infinite how-to-do-it Planning and Implementation scenarios, with also a need to make these drills a larger and a regular event.

The concerns during the Conception and Planning stages, perhaps because of sensitiveness of the subject, puzzle even the experts. In simplicity, these concerns would range from choosing an appropriate drill methodology to the right way of implementing it.

Some resources on understanding these earthquake drills, we found on the internet are below:

For Simple understanding http://www.essortment.com/all/earthquakedril_rxyi.htm
For Detailed understanding http://www.shakeout.org/
For more detailed understanding, one can try this Google Search or one of his/her own

Perhaps it is a collective of difficulties which pushes these drills to providence during the conception stages itself. Further, there is a risk of blame-game, if in the real event all lives cannot be saved. The real difficult part - the field implementation part, with all its inherent risks to life and injuries as well, also means convincing schools to be prepared, and reminded that safety of children is their responsibility too.

Much of this insight to us also comes from Hari (Mr. Hari Kumar, GeoHazards) who wants to see a safer environment for the school children. We at Quakeschool would like to extend our support and good wishes to the participants for the next event, tentatively planned on this June in the city of Shillong, India.

Some thoughts on “SCHOOL SAFETY” in South Asian countries

2010-04-10T16:26:00.000+05:30

Image source: Google Maps

Recently, we have been conducting some research for one of our clients on South Asian disaster history and its impacts on schools.

The interesting, unfortunate and perhaps already well publicized event is of the Kashmir earthquake in 2005 in which 17,000 School children were killed (out of a total life loss of some 80,000 reported) – the biggest known single event disaster to hit school buildings collectively. The number is exceptionally high because the earthquake struck during school hours. Other schools during other emergencies have been luckier – because it is the ‘important hours’ rather than ‘all hours’ that the children would spend in schools.

The next disaster events topping the list in the sub-continent are fire incidents, floods, war/terrorism, and malnutrition, only that these occur in a larger and slow intermittent period, measurable within a decade and amounting to a larger concerning number.

We will keep sharing more.

Quakeschool desk

India Natural Disaster Safety Portal launch

2010-02-09T15:27:00.000+05:30

We are glad to have the beta version of the School and Hospital Safety Portal inaugurated today by the NDMA (Government of India) at New-Delhi today.

Aiming for safety - by being a knowledge and resource portal for Schools and Hospitals, and local communities as well, this portal has some interesting features.

Such as-

Registering School or Hospital's Safety Profile online
District level natural hazard status in India.
Hazards covered currently are - 1) Earthquakes , 2) Tsunami, 3) Floods, & 4) Wind/Cyclones
A Library
FREE Downloading and Ordering of awareness Games and Posters

The various players who worked sleepless nights on making this portal a reality can be seen here. Beta version will be further improved upon with fine tunings and fixings in next coming months.

Please do regularly visit the site.