The 2001 Bhuj Earthquake-
I.I.I.Kanpur Dedicates NICEE to the Nation

 

 

The Quake…

       Once again the I.I.T.Kanpur team of nine earthquake engineers, geophysicists and students set out on yet another journey chasing earthquakes to learn important lessons and document for future. This time it was after the powerful earthquake that struck the Katch area in Gujarat at 8:46am on 26 January 2001, the most damaging earthquake in the last five decades in India. The team studied the seismic performance of buildings, bridges, dams and other modern industrial constructions.  This M7.7 earthquake centered near Bhuj is the first to hit metropolitan cities of the country. Therefore, the performance of structures in this area offer important lessons particularly from the points of view of efficacy of Indian codes and construction practices.
    The earthquake has pointed out severe inadequacies in the current construction practices of reinforced concrete multi-storey buildings that are so commonly being built in all urban areas in the country. Also, many earth dams have failed providing very useful case histories that will further our understanding on seismic design of earth dams. Further, the port structures, the railway facilities, and the highway structures including bridges suffered major losses. Most conspicuous of the losses in this earthquake are the heritage/monumental structures; many of them are lost forever.

A detailed account of the origin and effects of the earthquake, and the causes of structural failures is currently under preparation. The above investigation was supported by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (USA) and the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India). Professor Sudhir K. Jain of IIT Kanpur lead a team of 15 investigators consisting of scientists, engineers and an emergency manager from India and USA, jointly with Dr. William Lettis of William Lettis Associates, USA, to conduct a reconnaissance of the earthquake-affected area.

Earthquake Engineering at IIT Kanpur

IIT Kanpur has been at the mission to move towards an “earthquake-resistant” country and to develop preparedness for facing the upcoming earthquakes in the country, through both short term and long term actions. Notable amongst these are:

1. Development of a strong R&D programme in earthquake engineering over the past decade and a half   with (i) over 20 sponsored research projects on earthquake engineering from leading national agencies; (ii) a state-of-the-art earthquake engineering facility for imparting education to post-graduate students and professionals interested in earthquake engineering; and (iii) 4 PhD graduates (2 in progress) and 50 M.Tech. graduates (6 in progress) in the past decade and a half.

2. Strong contribution to the development of Indian Standards on earthquake design of structures, as principal authors of four comprehensive codes on seismic design of ductile detailing of RC structures, buildings, bridges and liquid retaining structures; the first was published in 1993, the second is expected to be released anytime, and the other two are in the discussion stage;

3. Development of a very successful continuing education program for practicing professionals (engineers, architects and engineering decision makers) in earthquake design of buildings and bridges; over 1400 of them have been trained so far over the past 8 years; and

4. Setting-up of the National Information Center of Earthquake Engineering at IIT Kanpur with a view to collect and maintain information resources on Earthquake Engineering and make these available to the interested professionals, researchers academicians, and others with a view to mitigate earthquake disasters in India; this center is supported by the generous funds from AICTE, Department of Telecom, Railway Board, Department of Atomic Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and HUDCO, and by generous contributions from EERI (USA), MCEER (USA), PEER (USA) and individuals.

 

 

Initiatives of IIT Kanpur and its Alumni after 2001 Quake

After the devastating 2001 Bhuj earthquake, a severe shortage was felt of trained structural engineers in the region who can assess the damages and suggest measures for repair/seismic retrofit of the damaged and other buildings. IIT Kanpur took a few initiatives, both short term and long term, to address this immediate technical need of the state of Gujarat in particular and the nation in general. These initiatives include:

1. Immediately on the occurrence of the event, the Institute formally launched a web site (www.nicee.org) of the National Information Center of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at IIT Kanpur to provide immediate guidance to engineers on information pertaining to the repair and retrofit of earthquake damaged buildings. A document published by the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) title “Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant Non-Engineered Constructions” was made available on the web site (with permission from IAEE). Also, the documented experiences in the major reconstruction activity embarked by the Government of Maharashtra after the 1993 Killari Earthquake were also provided on the web site (with permission from EERI) for the benefit of decision makers and engineers who are likely to be involved in the upcoming reconstruction activity in Gujarat. 

2. IIT Kanpur has been conducting numerous short-term courses for training practicing engineers on seismic design of reinforced concrete buildings and bridges over the past 8 years. Until now over 1400 of them have been trained in the country. Two of these engineers based in Hyderabad immediately moved into Ahmedabad immediately after the earthquake and spent a week there providing guidance to the local engineers and administrators on buildings related issues arising out of the earthquake. Since then, more professional engineers trained by IIT Kanpur in the past have been extending help to local authorities.

3. Four of the past post-graduates of IIT Kanpur with specialty in earthquake engineering, who are currently employed in leading engineering institutions/companies in the country, volunteered and visited the towns of Jamnagar, Morbi and Surendranagar and provided some guidance and suggestions to local engineers and administrators on handling of earthquake damaged buildings. Their effort was coordinated by CMAG (City Managers Association of Gujarat), an NGO based in Ahmedabad.

4. Another former post-graduate student of IIT Kanpur with specialization in Earthquake Engineering and now a consulting engineer in New Delhi was sent to Ahmedabad to train a small group of engineers on computer analysis of multistory buildings for earthquake forces. This was done in collaboration with Nirma Foundation at Ahmedabad.

5. Professor Sudhir K Jain conducted two seminars in Ahmedabad, one at the NIRMA Institute for Technology and the other at Institution of Civil Engineer and Architects; these were attended by over 300 engineers/architects. Professor Jain provided insights into the performance of structures, and the steps required to be taken in the aftermath of the quake.

6. The IIT Kanpur team held numerous meetings with the administrators of the Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Jamnagar to sensitize them of the gravity of the situation and provide them with critical inputs to handle the situation.

7. Just as Ahmedabad, the City of Kanpur is itself situated in the seismic zone III, the moderate zone after the more severe seismic zones V and IV. The Institute in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers (India), Kanpur Local Centre, is conducting an awareness program in April 2001 for Architects, Builders, Consultants and citizens of Kanpur, to give them the necessary support to face the threat of earthquake shaking in the region.

 

Dedicated to the Nation…

            IIT Kanpur remains committed to the cause of improving earthquake safety in our country and will take more initiatives in the future also to strengthen the country’s capacity to handle earthquakes with minimal loss of life and property, and dedicates the National Information Center of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) hosted at IIT Kanpur, to the nation…

C.V.R.Murty
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur