Safer, More Resilient Communities through Safe and Resilient Schools

Synopsis

On day two (23 October) of the Global Engineering Congress, join this free-to-attend evening lecture intended to showcase a number of recent projects on multi-hazard risk and resilience assessment of school facilities in developing countries.

Access to education is a basic human right. It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and education is strongly associated with poverty reduction. Providing facilities to educate children requires construction of school buildings and rapid expansion of curricula. However, in the rush to fulfill the right to education, are children being put at risk? What attention is being given to structural safety during the construction of new school facilities?

When the M 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April 2015, it caused the total or partial collapse of more than 2,000 schools and damaged over 5,000. The massive disruption caused by the earthquake and aftershocks on school infrastructure has reverberated into children’s development. This tragedy is not an exception – each year natural hazards around the world have had devastating effects on children’s education.

Typhoon Haiyan damaged more than 2,500 schools and affected 1.4 million children in the Philippines in 2013. The recent floods in Malawi affected hundreds of schools, disrupting the education of more than 350,000 children.

A safer and resilient school can save valuable lives of children, provide a safe haven for the local community, serving as a temporary shelter and helping to bring normalcy back to society in times of disaster.

The lecture will present the main findings of a number of recent projects on multi-hazard risk and resilience assessment of school facilities in developing countries.

Delegates will hear about:

• A series of tools (e.g., rapid visual survey forms, mobile apps) for a rapid yet reliable multi-hazard taxonomy development and vulnerability prioritization of school infrastructure.
• The methodologies for detailed physical vulnerability assessment of schools buildings against potentially destructive natural hazards, i.e. earthquake, typhoon, and flood.
• An investigation on the enhancement of multi-hazard resilience of schools through retrofitting of school buildings and disaster risk reduction education.

Illustrative application of the developed methods and tools will be presented for China, India, Nepal, and the Philippines.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. Delegates will also have the opportunity to network and continue the discussions over drinks at the ICE Café Bar.

About the GEC

The Global Engineering Congress is bringing together the worldwide engineering community to look at how we can trigger real change and deliver the outcomes specified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The programme offers 5 full days of multi-streamed content. 2,000+ engineers will take part in a practical programme designed to produce answers that can improve the lives of millions around the world. Don’t miss your chance to take part.

About the Speakers

Carmine Galasso is an Associate Professor of Catastrophe Risk Engineering in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (UCL-CEGE) at UCL and Deputy Director of EPICentre. Prior to joining UCL, he was a Catastrophe Risk Modeler at AIR Worldwide, San Francisco, USA, where he was task leader/team member for several vulnerability and risk assessment projects for a variety of natural events (earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, flood, wind), impacting single structures, portfolio of structures, and lifelines located in five continents, for corporate clients or public institutions, e.g., the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. His research focuses on the development of probabilistic tools for modelling and managing risk caused by extreme loads on the built environment, with emphasis on earthquake, flood, and wind hazards. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed papers, is an Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Earthquake Engineering and is/has been PI/Co-I on a number of grants totaling £1.5M in the last 2 years.

Dina D’Ayala is a Professor of Structural Engineering in UCL-CEGE, where she heads the Civil Engineering Section and co-directs EPICentre. She is also a director of the International Association of Earthquake Engineering (IAEE), Associate Editor of the Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, and a key scientist for the World Bank Global Programme for Safe Schools. Dina's research focuses on the assessment, strengthening, preservation and resilience of existing buildings, infrastructure and cultural heritage for multiple hazards. Her international and multidisciplinary research portfolio has been supported by industry, UK Research Councils, European Union’s -FP7, British Council, Royal Society - £8M in the last ten years. Dina is a member of the Management Board of the Beijing Normal University International Center for Collaborative Research on Disaster Risk Reduction (ICCR-DRR). She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed papers.

Further Information

This event is jointly organised by the ICE and SECED. The event is free to attend; however, your need to register. To book your place, simply click the 'book now' button below and follow the onscreen instructions. SECED members should choose "Supporting Association" under "Delegate Type" when booking. If you're not already an ICE/SECED member, you can register to receive updates on our latest events. If you experience any issues, please contact the event administrator: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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