e-course on
Earthquake Resistant House Construction
About the Course
Introduction
It is a basic e-learning course that offers awareness and understanding about earthquake resistant house construction.
As a fallout of 2001 Bhuj Earthquake, disaster mitigation & management has been given top priority by Govt. of India. Some of the notable contributions have been enactment of Disaster Management Act in 2005, National Disaster Management Policy in 2009 and now National Disaster Management Plan in 2016. Also, globally, through Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, all countries are committed to enhance disaster resilience and adopt best practices from all over the globe. Also, Sustainable Development Goals 2015-30, lays down emphasis on making cities safe, resilient & sustainable and various forums on Climate Change speaks about the issue of extreme events and increase in disaster risks from the adverse impact of climate change. Out of several hydro-metrological & geo hazards, Earthquake has been one of the most lethal hazard taking away human lives in matter of seconds. As per estimates, the loss of lives per year due to earthquake is more than 15000 globally. It is a known fact that the main catalyst in triggering loss of human lives has been our built environment in particular our buildings. There are gaps as regards construction practices in vogue, the knowledge about earthquake resistant construction, the design principles, the associated codes and whole gamut of other parameters such as capacities, education, implementation & awareness.
BMTPC in its endeavor to have earthquake resilient India has been in forefront and is already implementing e-Course on Vulnerability Atlas of India. BMTPC also brings out simple to comprehend guidelines, manuals, illustrations which can help not only professionals as well as common people so as to understand the complexities of earthquake resistant design & construction. One of the most popular document published by IIT Kanpur in association with BMTPC has been 32 Earthquake Tips through which concepts of earthquakes are being explained in common language. Extending it further, BMTPC brought out the “Guidebook on Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction” authored by Shri Pankaj Agarwal, Professor, Department of Earthquake Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. This e-Course is based on this guidebook.
The masonry house consists of brick, block, stone, adobe etc. with mortar. Such type of construction is called load bearing walls construction. Most of the Indian population is living in this type of constructions. Past earthquakes in India reveal that most of the causalities have occurred only due to collapse of these constructions. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce earthquake disaster in a common man’s house making it seismically safe.
The seismic safety of multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings encompasses buildings in which people live in flats i.e. frame construction with beam, columns, shear wall etc. This type of construction is safer than the first type of construction if it is made on the basis of BIS code recommendations. Two BIS codes namely IS 1893 and IS 13920 are generally used for the earthquake resistant construction of multi-storey framed buildings. These codes are not easy to understand for our design professional and architects since they are accustomed to the conventional design but not earthquake resistant design. The main reason is that, earthquake engineering in the past was available only at a few places and most of the engineering colleges either did not include earthquake engineering in their curricula or at the most one or two optional courses. Therefore, the graduates of civil engineering either had no idea about earthquake engineering or only a little bit which was not sufficient for a design professional. However, after the Bhuj earthquake on January 26, 2001 there have been number of technical programmes or schemes launched by different Ministries with the help of technical institutions on earthquake engineering education in the form of short term courses.
This Course not only cover the details of earthquake safe construction but also provide direction to evaluate the seismic capacity and vulnerabilities of a house/ building for future earthquake. If the house/building is found seismically deficient, a number of techniques have been suggested to increase/upgrade their seismic capacity for the future earthquake. These techniques are called retrofitting measures. Herein measures to repair and retrofit an earthquake damaged house/building have also been suggested. In short, all the details to make earthquake safe construction (new or existing) of a house or multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings have been covered under the course.
Objectives
The objectives of this e-learning programme are:
• To orient the strategic stakeholders about the earthquake resistant design and construction
• To bring about informed safe practices in the field of architecture, civil engineering, construction engineering & management and housing & infrastructure planning including repair & retrofitting strategies.
Curriculum
The course curriculum has two sections and covers all aspects of earthquake engineering ranging from non-engineered construction to RCC multi-storied buildings; thumb rules to classical design & construction practices and also seismic evaluation and retrofitting. Section-1 covers how to make a dream house earthquake resistant having eight modules and Section-2 is on how to ensure the seismic safety of multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings having five modules.
Eligibility / Target Group
Any person who has successfully completed and in possession of a minimum qualification of B.E. / B.Tech (Civil) or B.Arch. (or equivalent) or Diploma in Civil with 5 years’ experience and final year students of Civil Engineering and Architecture shall be eligible to take up the Course. Scanned copy of Degree/Diploma certificate (or equivalent)/College ID Card, to be submitted with application.
Expected Outcome
Basic understanding about
• A house and its behavior during earthquake
• Possible ways to increase the earthquake resistant capacity of a house
• Planning consideration of a house to improve the seismic behavior
• Effect of Workmanship and Construction Practices on the Seismic Performance of a Masonry House
• Effects of other Parameters excluding Earthquake on the performance of a Masonry House
• Earthquake Resistant Provisions in a Masonry House
• Strengthening and retrofitting of a seismically deficient house before the next earthquake strikes
• Repair and Retrofitting of a house after the earthquakes
• Earthquake and its effects on building response
• Planning and design considerations for seismically safe construction of RC buildings
• Proportioning and detailing considerations in building components during earthquakes
• Seismic evaluation and retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete buildings
• Post-earthquake evaluation and retrofitting of reinforced concrete buildings
Admission
• Admission to the e-course shall be online only.
• Applicants need to apply for the e-course by filling up the application form.
• After submission of duly filled-in online form, an email will be generated to applicant regarding successful submission of application form.
• After verification of the details by administrator, an email will be sent to applicant containing user id and machine generated password.
• Applicant is advised to change the password immediately.
Examination
The e-course will help individuals to comprehend and move at their own pace. There are no restrictions on duration of the course. At the end of the course, there will be final examination which will be MCQ based. An applicant will get maximum 3 attempts to complete the final examination. If an applicant fails after 3 attempts, applicant will have to go through the course again from the beginning. On successful completion of the course, a self-generated digital certificate will be awarded to the applicant.
Course Material
The basic course material is based on the “Guidebook on Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction” published by BMTPC. Also, the websites of international and national organizations working in the areas of disaster mitigation and management along with NDMA, NIDM, BIS standards, etc. have been referred. The course has been designed and prepared by BMTPC jointly with SPA New Delhi.