Total 1,987 earthquakes were recorded/reported by the USGS having a magnitude of 2.5+ in a period of last 30 days. Earthquakes are phenomenal and keep occurring every moment on the earth. Today, March 27th in the year 2018, I had a wonderful time spent with students of BE Civil (Year II, Semester IV) studying at the SSASIT, Surat. USGS website is showing locations of EQ epicentres.
The site keeps on updating frequently, access it here.
Today’s discussion was oriented to have a quick understanding of the scientific understanding of the earthquake phenomena and apply certain principles to avoid damage to buildings and subsequently, the loss of lives. Damages to human lives can be saved if buildings are planned and constructed for safety against structural and non-structural elements. Size, shape, height, the positioning of bean-column does play a crucial role apart from structural steel content. Joints in the building can prove to be a weak link.
A presentation here may be useful for exploring some basic aspects and principles discussed. The presentation was compiled from the information made available during my tenure for working with UNDP India in 2009 on a project named, UEVRP – Urban Earthquake Vulnerability Program towards building capacities in the society. Some alterations were done to bring in a specific orientation of understanding.
Here are some of the memories captured during the session in progress.
I express sincere thanks to Prof. Shivang Dabhi who hosted the event with the support of Prof. Pastagiya and Prof. Satashia and other friends in the teaching staff of SSASIT. Also, gratitude is due towards Dr Vaghasiya, Principal and trustee members for availing me an opportunity of sharing my insights in the subject matter.
During the talk that lasted more than 2 hours, all the students were attentive and showing keen interest. I hope the talk would be helpful to them in developing interests for exploring principles of Engineering. I wish them to be attentive in the due course of their formal degree Engineering education throughout and a best of luck.
Learners may provide their input as a feedback/ comment on the content of the talk as well as their understanding of the subject matter in the comment section below.
Expert talk – Basics of Earthquake – Building planning in EQ prone areas by Bhasker Vijaykumar Bhatt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.slideshare.net/BhaskerVijaykumarBha/basics-of-earthquake-and-building-planning-in-eq-prone-areas.
