ADPC Technical Assistance Project for Strengthening Disaster Mitigation and Management at State Level in India 

The Technical Assistance Project funded by the Asian Development Bank in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal is coming to a close. In the past three months, several activities have been undertaken to strengthen disaster mitigation and management approaches in collaboration with the Government of Uttaranchal:

• Training Workshop on Fundamentals of Earthquake Engineering in Uttaranchal, involving 39 government engineers from the Public Works, Irrigation and Rural Engineering Departments. The workshop covered topics ranging from the basics of seismology and earthquake engineering to earthquake-resistant design of rural and urban housing. It also covered field problems regarding the seismic vulnerability evaluation of two existing buildings and their retrofitting.
• Workshop on Role of Building Centers in Disaster Management, involving local building centers and experts from the University of Roorkee and the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council of the Government of India. They discussed how local-level building centers can be effective in promoting earthquake-resistant buildings in Uttaranchal. 
• Workshop on Legal Support, Development Control and Building Bylaws Related to Safety against Natural Hazards. This involved discussions about implementation of building codes in urban areas of Uttaranchal for earthquake-resistant construction, and proposed recommendations for more effective implementation of the codes. 

In addition, the Technical Assistance Project has helped produce and publish new public-awareness materials such as:

• Two booklets on “Earthquake Resistant Housing” and “Repair and Retrofitting”, both focused on traditional construction methods for non-engineered structures. 
• Three pamphlets on basic information about traditional construction methods for “Earthquake Resistant Housing”, “Repair” and “Retrofitting”.