In less than three weeks after a deadly earthquake caused massive damage to life and property in Nepal, another powerful one jolted the country yesterday (13th May, 2015).
The destruction of infrastructure from these earthquakes raises fears for lives and, therefore, highlights the importance of geologists, seismologists and earthquake engineering specialists who can play a huge role in preventing deaths and minimizing damage by predicting such disasters.
Earthquake Engineering
“Geology, seismology, geotechnical engineering, and earthquake engineering are treated differently; wherein, the experts respectively are geologists, seismologists, geotechnical engineers, and earthquake engineers. There is a wide scope in India as well as abroad for students who study and conduct research in these areas. There are, however, varying degrees of opportunities available in government organisations, multinational companies, educational institutes, research organisations, and corporates,” says Vasant Matsagar, associate professor, department of civil engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.
In India, there are many engineering colleges, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) that provide training to students in earthquake engineering.
“Several research projects in the area of earthquake engineering have been completed which were funded mostly by the government departments such as Department of Science and Technology (DST). The technical contributions made in the form of patents, research articles published by the faculty members, researchers, and students in the area of earthquake engineering enormously contribute in advancement of the knowledge and its dissemination within stakeholders.
“This research over a period of years transpired in the building codes and standards, which is governed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Several IIT faculty members, who are actively engaged in earthquake engineering research, are members of the BIS code drafting committees,” says Matsagar.
Apart from their studies and research, the IIT faculty members are engaged in outreach activities for capacity building, spreading awareness and knowledge enhancement of the technicians, stakeholders, and society at large on earthquake engineering; thereby, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
“The IIT faculty members are considered to be the competent authority for approval of design and drawings of civil engineering structures for their safety from earthquakes. Notably, no other peer group could measure up to IIT faculty members in terms of research-based knowledge in earthquake engineering which is required to understand the design philosophy of the standard codes of practice published by the BIS for correct interpretation and implementation of the design criteria,” he adds.
Geology and Seismology
On the contrary, geologists and seismologists conduct research on the origin of seismic activities. As part of this, they study the earth’s composition, its cross-sectional properties, materials, and more specifically the ‘plate tectonics.’
In addition, they study geological features such as faults, their orientations etc. and their effect on seismic activities, which helps in the assessment of possibility of seismic hazard at a given site or location.
Geotechnical engineers do research on soil and rock behaviour when subjected to earthquake ground excitations. The structural engineers carry out research on earthquake resistant design of structures (buildings, bridges, tanks, dams, nuclear facilities etc) and work towards making earthquake resilient society by building appropriate infrastructure.
CS Dubey, head, Centre for Advanced Studies in the department of geology, Delhi University, says, “As we are not yet able to find precursors of earthquakes, the studies on active faults and thrusts, neotectonics, liquefaction and seismic hazard zonation and vulnerability studies can help in risk assessment and disaster management in earthquake prone areas by constructions as per BIS standards. Structural geology, geophysics, geotechnical studies and disaster management are other areas that have immense scope.”
Where all you can study:
- Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
- National Institutes of Technology (NIT, Silchar)
- Delhi University
- Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun
- Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
- University of California, Berkeley
- Harvard University
- University of Cambridge
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
Source: HT Education