Events

Upcoming Events

South Asia Conference on Earthquake Engineering (21-22 February 2019)

South Asia Conference on Earthquake Engineering (SACEE) has been constituted under the auspices of SHAKE. This is the first SACEE which is being held in Pakistan. The event will be held after every two years and the venue will be rotated among the member states of SHAKE. Either individual institution or consortium from the member states could organise the event. The participation of the speakers and presenters, however, is welcome and encouraged from all over the world. For more details, visit confernce website (http:/sacee.neduet.edu.pk

Past Events

Workshop entitled Recent Advancements in Earthquake Engineering and Seismology in South Asian Countries was organised on 9-10 August 2016 at NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan. This was also the first meeting between core partners of SHAKE (Figure 1). The participants from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh participated in the workshop. The workshop was supported by Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy. Prof. Abdelkrim Aoudia participated in the workshop on behalf of ICPT and discussed the importance of education, training and networking for a sustainable research in earthquake prone regions, and the ways of strengthening and sustaining SHAKE long term objectives.

Prof. Roger Bilham, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA also participated as a keynote speaker in the programme and delivered a lecture entitled History of Great Himalayan Earthquakes. Other presenters included the following: Prof. Sarosh H. Lodi, Prof. Muhammad Masood Rafi, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Dr. Muhammad Waseem and Mr. Naeeem Iqbal from Pakistan; Dr. Amod Mani Dixit and Mr. Kuber Bogati from Nepal; Prof. Raquib Ahsan and Mr. Nurul Alam from Bangladesh; Mr. Phuntsho Pelgay from Bhtan; Dr. Amit Kumar from India; Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake and Dr. Kushan Wijesundara from Sri Lanka. These speakers made country presentations on behalf of their respective countries. More than 40 participants attended the workshop that was divided into five technical and one inaugural session. Prof. Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Dean of Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, NED University welcomed the participants of the workshop. He highlighted the purposes and objectives of the event. Prof. Muhammad Afzal Haque, Vice Chancellor, NED University, presented vote of thanks and concluded the inaugural session with the distribution of souvenirs to the presenters (Figure 2).

The presenters from each of the participating countries discussed various aspects of seismic hazard and vulnerability, and the efforts being made to reduce seismic risk in their countries. A panel discussion was held in the last session of the workshop. Prof. Sarosh Lodi presented a concept for creating mutual working environment, to deal with the common scientific problems in the South Asian region. Prof. Abdelkrim shared his best experiences of such networks in the world that he is associated with. He emphasized on the role of students as the main problem solver body for the participating countries. He mentioned that the involvement of students is also encouraged by ICTP. The following recommendations were made by the participants for future activities of SHAKE The participants will make efforts to build a strong network among themselves and will strengthen SHAKE by carrying out joint research activities. Efforts will be made to make SHAKE to appear as a strong network in the region in the next two years. The students could be the main problem solver body for the participating countries. The involvement of students is also encouraged by ICTP. Therefore, student exchanges in the institutions of the participating countries shall be considered based on the availability of facilities in these institutions for conducting the research required by the participants. Mobility of researchers to the institutions of the participating countries will be encouraged to allow a useful discussion and understanding of each other needs.

A dedicated web page of SHAKE will be prepared which will be hosted by ICTP. The web page will carry a directory of the participants of SHAKE besides other related information on the activities of SHAKE. The web site will also provide a means of communication and data sharing between the participants. The participants will be engaged in joint publications in the journals. Each country will nominate a national coordinator who will liaise with an overall coordinator. Prof Muhammad Masood Rafi will act as overall coordinator. National coordinators are the following

Prof Raquib Ahsan – Bangladesh

Mr. Phuntsho Pelgay – Bhutan

Mr Kuber Bogati – Nepal

Dr Mukesh Kumar – Pakistan

Dr Kushan Wijesundara –Sri Lanka