National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

Disaster Drill

An international conference is hosted by Nepal, which itself is particularly susceptible to tremor terror

By A CORRESPONDENT

The geographical location of Nepal has made the country very much vulnerable to earthquakes. Even in the recent history, Nepal has had to face strong quakes that destroyed lives and property. The quakes of 1990 B.S. (1933 A.D) and 2045 B.S. (1987) brought ruin to the country, killing thousands of people and destroying huge amounts of property.

The quakes have brought untold sufferings to humanity in different places and different periods of time. But the scientists have stated, after thorough research, that human beings can escape the wrath of earthquake easily if they use their wisdom. It is the fact that earthquakes do not kill people, it is the falling structures that do. So, if care is taken when building such structures, people can escape the tremor terror to a great extent. Likewise, earthquake awareness, prior knowledge of dealing with the aftermath of tremor and disaster preparedness are key to surviving nature's jolts.

As it is situated in an active earthquake zone, Nepal needs to be particularly alert to create mass awareness about its vulnerabilities and teach its people to avoid tragedies. This was the message by the experts after the conclusion of the fourth general assembly of the Asian Seismological Commission (ASC 2002) held recently in the capital.

The ASC was held in Kathmandu in conjunction with pre-symposium training course on 11-22 November and the International Symposium on Seismology Earthquake Hazard Assessment and Risk Management on 24-26 November.

The ASC was participated by renowned seismologists, geologists, earthquake engineers, civil engineers, disaster managers, and professionals, including policy makers, medical personal, social worker and activists from 22 countries around the world. This International Seismological Forum was organized under the aegis of the ASC and International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI).

The Kathmandu general assembly of the ASC was hosted by the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), which mainly focuses on earthquake vulnerability reduction activities in the country. Likewise, the event was co-organized by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) HMG /Nepal, IASPEI, ASC and B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation jointly sponsored the event.

Eminent personalities such as Prof. C. Krasae, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Education, Royal Thai Government and Chairman, Board of Trustee ADPC; Prof. Serguei Balassanian, President, ASC, and Prof. Zhu Chuanzhen, Secretary-General ASC, Prof. Wu Zhongliang, executive member of IASPEI took part in the inaugural function as well as the technical sessions of the ASC 2002.

Dr. Upendra Devkota, Minister for Health and Science & Technology, inaugurated the event. He encouraged scientists to share the know-how and devise mechanism to minimize the impact from natural disasters by the application of technology. He assured the gathering that Nepalese government would help facilitate enhanced cooperation in the field of seismic risk reduction in the region. He expressed his resolve to improve earthquake resistance structural requirements for critical infrastructures like hospitals in Nepal.

Prof. Serguei Balassanian, president of ASC noted that the Kathmandu seminar would promote further scientific understanding of the earth and would initiate a dialogue between scientific community, governments on local, national, and regional levels, public, private sector and mass media in order to devise an integrated strategy for the prevention of the impacts of earthquake hazard on the population, vital infrastructures and property.

"Particular emphasis must be placed on the protection of the most vulnerable developing countries because the level of efforts focused on mitigation of strong earthquake's impacts in developing countries has remained rather low and stagnant even as the level of efforts focused on the same problems in developed nations has significantly increased."

"To fill this gap and increase the ability of each country to reduce its earthquake risk is one of the primary goals of the ASC. The ASC should promote the understanding that Earthquake Hazard Assessment and Risk Management are the essential elements of government policy and are intimately linked to the ability of the country to function appropriately for the guarantee of business continuity and hence economic growth and potential of any country to prosper and develop," said Prof. Balassanian.

During the conference, in depth interactions were held. The various technical sessions witnessed the presentations of 47 papers on science, 13 on engineering and 15 on management. The ASC 2002 also decided that its next general assembly will be held in Yerevan, Armenia in 2004.