Sikkim Visit- Post 18th Sept. 2011 earthquake

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.

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Written: Chandra Bhakuni

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

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

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.]



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Owner’s responsibility and School Safety Audits in India

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:

1. The robustness of building structure
2. The school assumes responsible stance during an emergency
3. There exists an Emergency Management Plan within the school
4. Help from external resource agencies such as firefighting, life saving and health, and rescue teams is available
5. 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.

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*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

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:

• http://revenuedepartment.gujarat.gov.in/applications/content.asp?Content_Id=763&T itle_Id=195&language=G&SiteID=8
• http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/aug/edu-firesafe.htm
• http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1145/is_n4_v33/ai_20552693/
• http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=118570

Some thoughts on “SCHOOL SAFETY” in South Asian countries

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

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-

1. Registering School or Hospital's Safety Profile online

2. District level natural hazard status in India.
   Hazards covered currently are - 1) Earthquakes , 2) Tsunami, 3) Floods, & 4) Wind/Cyclones

3. A Library
   

4. 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.