Surviving quakes unscathed

Omaxe Foundation to bring together all stakeholders to discuss techniques to make buildings less prone to quakes.

Bhuj has seemingly not taught many lessons in safe building to states and municipalities across the country. While some states have put in place legislation for enforcing a building code, there is rarely an instance like Gujarat, where there is a will to enforce such a code and provide earthquake-resistant buildings.

Omaxe Foundation, the NGO front of the real estate giant, has now taken it upon itself to get builders and other stakeholders like governments, architects, structural engineers and academicians on the same platform for building a consensus on the need to survive earthquakes.

For a start, it is organising a workshop this month. United Nations Development Programme India, which has been at the forefront of a campaign for disaster management, is providing the expertise for the workshop.

Brijesh Kumar, former IT secretary, who is a part of the Omax Foundation now, is spearheading the initiative. According to Arvind Mohan, media spokesperson for the foundation, the NGO is making a beginning by training its own personnel.

It had held two workshops last year for civil engineers, project managers and architects, with the help of UNDP resource persons. It also targetted masons and other technical staff at Omaxe's construction site at Jasola.

It has also initiated a dialogue with IITs and School of Planning and Architecture for providing scholarships to students in the area of quake-resistant structures.

Prof A S Arya, national seismic advisor, Ministry of Home Affairs, who is taking part in this tutorial for builders, says it is a positive development that builders are being sensitised.

"I hope to dispel a few myths about the economic costs of safe structures, so that builders know that quake-resistant buildings do not cost too much," he says.

Global NGO Geo Hazards International, which specialises in the field of quake-resistant structures, besides taking part in the workshop, is planning another one for government engineers and architects at the end of this month, when its experts from the US arrive for a review of the ongoing retrofitting projects in Delhi.

Geo Hazards has been providing technical expertise for the first and only programme to provide retrofitting to existing structures. Five buildings in Delhi viz the police headquarters, which is also the PWD headquarters, Delhi Secretariat, the Divisional Commissioner's office, the GTB Hospital and one school are currently in various stages of preparation prior to retrofitting.

The Geo Hazards model of retrofitting is poised for replication in schools across Delhi in a proposal under consideration of the Delhi government. If such a project happened, Geo Hazards would provide the expertise, said Hari Kumar, national coordinator.