Geohazards International

Geohazards international is nonprofit organization working for the capacity building of those all around the globe, particularly least developed countries. Causalities and damages are increasing due to earth hazard related including earthquakes and tsunamis in poor countries. The role of Geo-hazard international is remarkable, even it helped reached to our city of Quetta Balochistan, the remotest and ignorant city, which was devastated in 1935 earthquake, killed 35000 people. Geohards sponsored a book publication in local language (Urdu) written for the earthquake awareness of the people of Balochistan.

Such organizations need special attention of the world community to extend and expand its scope for the betterment of the humanity particularly its work should reached those areas which other could not have access.

I am very impressed with The Heising-Simons Natural Disaster Risk Reduction GeoHazards International–UC Berkeley Student Internship Program. I represent the William Averette Anderson Fund for Hazard and Disaster Mitigation, Education and Research, aka the Bill Anderson Fund (BAF).

The GeoHazards Internship Program (GHIP) provides a wonderful experience for students to become involved as undergraduate students. It's my hope that there will be collaboration between our two organizations as the BAF develops allowing us to learn from the successes that have guided.

My late husband, Bill Anderson, had a tremendous amount of respect for Brian Tucker and his leadership at the helm of GeoHazards International. I look forward to working with him in the future.

Norma Doneghy Anderson
Founder
Bill Anderson Fund

Year 2008!! When Bechtel India and GHI decided to work together towards a common goal of contributing towards the nation.

GHI is a unique non profit organisation which works on the principle of health and safety. I joined their team as a Bechtel volunteer and served for 4 years before moving out to Australia.

It was a great pleasure to sensitise the schools/kids/teachers & parents about the importance of earthquake safety and how we can help them. My area of expertise was falling hazards and the importance of fixing all the hazards so as to avoid any injuries due to falling hazards. The feeling we all volunteers used to get after the successful completion of each project cannot be expressed in words.

Bravo!! To Hari's team for being so dedicated and committed towards GHI's goal. Miss working with GHI team anymore but thanks to Hari for keeping me informed about their work and achievements.

My best wishes to Hari and the whole GHI team. Hope GHI expands well and many other young volunteers like us take initiatives to serve mankind!

Best Regards,
Megha

As a result of the December 26, 2004 Great Indian Ocean tsunami, approximately 130,000 Indonesians lost their lives. At that time, I was the Coordinating Minister for Public Welfare of Indonesia and, as such, intimately involved in my government’s response to and recovery from that tragedy.

I wish to express my gratitude to GeoHazards International (GHI) for informing Indonesian government officials and business leaders of the great risk of the Sumatran city of Padang to tsunamis, and of the opportunity to significantly and efficiently reduce that risk by means of a Tsunami Evacuation Park (TEP).

GHI motivated the creation of the Indonesian nonprofit foundation named Yayasan Siaga Penyelamatan Inovatif, or “SPIN,” whose mission is to promote, fund and create innovative solutions to Indonesia’s large and increasing vulnerability to tsunamis and earthquakes. I am a founding member of the Board of Directors of SPIN and I speak on this matter for the entire SPIN Board.

Further, GHI provided a conceptual design of a TEP, participated in a major fund-raising campaign to construct a prototype TEP, and obtained permission from the Indonesia Air Force to build a TEP on its base in Padang.

What I value the most in GHI’s assistance is that it has increased Indonesia’s capacity to manage tsunami risk. GHI could have tried to hire foreign architects, engineers and construction managers and actually built the TEP, by itself. This would have produced a structure, but it would not have developed our capacity to replicate it. The estimated 400,000 people at risk from the tsunami forecast for Padang will not be made safe by a single TEP, and therefore, developing Indonesians’ capacity to manage their risk is essential. GHI has worked patiently with SPIN to
allow us to develop our abilities to raise funding, to design the TEP and to construct it.

Alwi Shihab
SPIN Founding Member

I had an opportunity to be a part of GHI's work while I was working as a Structural Engineer with Bechtel (New Delhi, India) in 2008-09. Being a Structural Engineer I can very well understand the need and the value of disaster preparedness and disaster management. The natural calamities like earthquakes, windstorms, tornado, tsunami etc. still remain one of the most uncertain modes of loading on structures. Practically no structure could be designed to be fail-proof for such events. That being said, it is of vital importance to educate people about disaster preparedness and disaster management. GHI's constant efforts in this very direction are for sure making a difference!

I am thankful to GHI and Mr Hari Kumar (India Director, GHI) for giving me the pleasure of being a part of their efforts. I was able to contribute my share as a Bechtel volunteer in a collaborative effort of GHI & Bechtel to help educate the school kids about disaster preparedness and mitigation especially in the light of earthquake event. I was an active volunteer for a few sensitization sessions conducted at various schools in Gurgaon. It was such a heartwarming experience to be able to help little kids understand the Do's and Don'ts in case of an earthquake event; to teach them "Duck-Cover-Hold" in a playful way; to help the teachers understand the importance of identifying and securing the falling hazards, securing safe exits and the importance of having an evacuation plan in-place an practice following the same through scheduled mock-drills.

My active participation toward GHI projects lasted till 2009 when I left for US to pursue MS. It is great to know about GHI's recent initiatives and projects through Mr. Hari, it is genuinely commendable what Hari and team is doing. It was a sheer pleasure being a part of the humbling efforts of GHI and I would definitely love to do it again!

I wish GHI team good luck and success in all their endeavors!

--
Regards,
Mishi

GeoHazards International is very active in encouraging earthquake safety in developing nations. Many times earthquake damage reports point out the large number of children and teachers killed and injured in a seismic event. I have assisted GHI in reviewing design work in several countries and I'm pleased to see how much can be accomplished towards the goal of seismic safety.

The advocacy and thoughtfulness of the organization and how it encourages nations throughout the world to consider the needs of safety in school buildings, as well as health and other facilities, is excellent. The dedication of the staff to this goal and the sensitivity of local customs is to be admired.

I had the opportunity to work with GHI on several projects including the Earthquake Scenario Research Workshop for NATO, the Central Asia NATO Workshop in Almaty and the GHI Global Earthquake Safety Index development. I found the GHI as an excellent and dedicated organization that specifically focus on the disaster risk assessment and mitigation in developing regions of the world.

GHI carried out a research into the information needs of earthquake safety professionals / DRM managers working at local level within the scope of GEM, so that we could understand what ultimate beneficiaries are in need of. They have a very professional approach and what I particularly liked, they involved Colorado State University in the study. They delivered in time and always checked goals and next steps with us.

GHI has been working closely with the Local Government of Padang City since a few years ago, after a big earthquake which caused many casualties befell the city of Padang in 2009.
Working closely with the GHI is very good, because in helping us, they open up and receive advice in accordance with local needs. And in the process to help realize, the GHI always try to involve all stake holders, such as the Central Government, the private sector, and public figures, ranging from the planning process. A very important thing is GHI never give up, we were very impressed and appreciate all of their consistency.
GHI's brilliant idea to help the city of Padang in saving thousands of lives in the earthquake and tsunami are going to build a Tsunami Evacuation Park (TEP). Because as we know, the city of Padang with a population of about 900,000 people is a coastal city most at risk of a tsunami. And more than half the population living in coastal areas, they will be the victims if a tsunami comes.
GHI's proposed solution is very suitable and helpful, and can be realized, because the location is ready, close to the densely populated area, and can be achieved quickly by thousands of communities.
TEP is an artificial hill shaped multipurpose park, for everyday use as a sports field (football) and public recreational park, but if there is a earthquake and tsunami, the people who live around the TEP immediately ran to TEP for save themselves from tsunami waves .
We really hope TEP can be realized by GHI, because we do not know when the earthquake and tsunami comes.

Didi Aryadi
Assistant for economic development and welfare
Padang Local Government
West Sumatra Province, Indonesia.

Here in Baja California, we know the Mission and Objectives of GHI in 1998. GHI help us to participate in the Radius Project launched by ISDR. GHI helped to organize people and institutions around a reality, the urban seismic risk. A growing risk if you don't work in your identification and solution. In 1999 at the end of the project we founded the Tijuana Radius Working Group (TRWG) and in 2014 we still working in this.
Our website is http://radius-tij.cicese.mx . In this site you can fin all the story and development of this group.
When we start the project in 1998, Lic. Vega de la Madrid was the city major, now Lic. Vega is governor of Baja California and he also recognize this effort and is supporting the TRWG.
Congratulations to GHI and all your members! Baja California citizens appreciated all your guidance and help. Thanks Brian!

We're a foundation that funds humanitarian projects. GHI's work in Sumatra after the Tsunami was remarkable! They assembled an impressive, yet cost effective multidisciplinary team that first established meaningful relationships with locals, and then addressed the heart of the matter. Regardless of infrastructure improvements, many coastal communities have insufficient time to outrun tsunami forces. Their work in providing vertical evacuation structures will not only save lives in this area but in any area where threat and distance are insurmountable.
Their reports were thorough, complete in all details and a pleasure to read.
We look forward to working with them again.

I have known and admired the works of Geohazards International (GHI) since mid -1990s when I was Chairman of Aga Khan Housing Board, Pakistan (now Aga Khan Planning and Building Services). GHI’s trailblazing work in School earthquake safety, urban earthquake risk mitigation, retrofitting of lifeline building to make them seismically safe are powerful and admirable interventions to mitigate seismic related risks.
GHI has done pioneering work in school earthquake safety in the developing world and serves as first point of reliable reference and best practices. The interventions suggested by GHI are simple, practical and in-expensive. The interventions have focused on not only improving school buildings and school construction practices, but integrating awareness activities with earthquake engineering so that the school buildings and their contents would better resist earthquakes, and that children and teachers would be prepared to respond aptly to strong earthquakes. As the past Chairman of Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan we referred and relied on school earthquake safety work of GHI extensively.
One of the most tragic aspects of the October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake was the disastrous performance of schools. Over 8,000 schools were destroyed or damaged beyond repair, resulting in the death of more than 17,000 school children and serious injuries (which also required amputations) of more than 20,000 other children. An entire generation is at risk on every school day in northern Pakistan. GHI’s work in school earthquake safety was extensively referred to in the post- earthquake re-building process by the government and NGOs.

I have also firsthand seen GHI’s work in rural Nepal and the work done for OECD and some of their activities in India. These are very commendable and top quality initiatives. GHI’s work in awareness raising and programmatic interventions are great source of knowledge and resource to developing countries in high seismic risk areas.

Abid Shaban
(past Chairman Aga Khan Housing Board,Pakistan and Aga Khan Education Services, Pakistan)

I had the unique opportunity and good fortune to work with GeoHazards International in the area of Earthquake & Landslide Risk Assessment & Management. The multidisciplinary technical team comprised a spectrum of researchers, practitioners, and risk mitigation professionals from Aizawl, elsewhere in India, and the United States. The team conducted a “risk diagnosis” project to understand and approximate the risk-creating processes in Aizawl into portions prioritized according to risk and cost-effectiveness, to enable local leaders to reduce risk with specific manageable actions or programs,which can later be supported by outside financial and technical resources, if necessary. This team included geologists, geophysicists, land use planners / architects, civil and structural engineers, policy specialists and disaster/emergency managers, who assembled several times in Aizawl for collective field reconnaissance and consultations.

The little city of Aizawl (India) is extremely fortunate to have the Geohazards International working with us to prepare us against possible hazards, especially that of landslide. In another two years or so, with their technical guidance, we are expecting to have a comprehensive hazard map of the city, which would be our base for development control and regulation. Its a pleasure working with them, and we expect to greatly benefit from their work here in Aizawl.

January 2008.

While working as a Control Systems Engineer at Bechtel India Private Ltd., I had the unique pleasure of collaborating with GeoHazards International (GHI) in its sustained effort to educate schools in Gurgaon (outskirts of New Delhi, India) on disaster mitigation. Though Gurgaon lies in Seismic Zone 4, the second highest earthquake risk zone in India, and despite the documented fact that school children constitute 20% of all casualties in day-time earthquakes, fewer than 5% of Gurgaon schools had a disaster management plan ready.

We decided to change the status quo - I led a team of volunteers at Bechtel to assist GHI in its important mission to spread awareness about earthquake risks and associated mitigation practices in order to reduce the potential death and suffering in case of an earthquake in this region. Our combined team of GHI professionals led by Mr Hari Kumar (India Director, GHI), and Bechtel volunteers, physically spent significant time on weekends in selected schools to: sensitize students and teachers on earthquake causes and consequent perils; identify potential falling hazards; supervise classroom retrofitting to ensure safe exits; organize bi-monthly mock drills. A typical school project lasted for about 6 months - these initiatives paved the way for disaster recovery plans and built a culture of earthquake preparedness which was initially not present. Within just 36 months, we succeeded in educating over 11,000 students and 2500 teachers.

I continued my association with these projects till 2012 and thereafter left for Spain to pursue my full time MBA course. I am in regular contact with Mr. Hari regarding GHI's initiatives in various parts of India, especially the North Eastern belt, and am constantly overwhelmed and impressed by his team's efforts in spreading critical awareness about earthquakes. This work is of utmost importance and has the potential to save many a human lives. GHI - kudos to your vision and good luck !

Best Regards,
Vineet Laroiya

I am the Disaster Management focal point in the Central Public Works Department Training Institute, Government of India. I first came across GeoHazards International when I had been nominated to be part of their project 'Delhi Earthquake Safety initative' in which GHI partnered with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. it was a capacity building project, and as an engineer working in earthquake prone regions, it was a god send opportunity to meet with and interact with some of the best engineering minds in the world that GHI had got together as part of the Panel of experts for the project. Many of us engineers gained much from GHI. GHI staff members have always been helpful and ready to spend time to support us. Even at our Institute, they volunteer time to enhance knowledge on earthquakes and earthquake safety to trainee engineers we host from all across the country.

The Department of Disaster Management is the National Coordinating Agency for all activities related to Disaster Management in Bhutan. From the Department i have worked as focal person to the activities undertaken by GHI in Bhutan. I am fortunate to have worked with the GeoHazards International. GHI has tremendously helped Bhutan in taking forward DRR initiatives. Among others, following are some of the core area that GHI helped in:

1. Developing National Action plan for School and Hospital Earthquake Safety for Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. The Action plan was the key tool used by the two ministries in Mainstreaming DRR activities into their developmental plan. This will help the schools and hospitals to be better prepared in case of earthquakes.

2. Conducting the Annual Preparedness Drill day. Following the 2009 Earthquake that struck Bhutan, it was important to reflect what has happened so that we are better prepared if similar disaster happens. Instituting the Annual School Preparedness Drill Day is a means to enhance preparedness of schools in Bhutan and also raise awareness of the general public.

3. Developing the "vulnerability checklist" for assessing the school and health facilities. Not only help develop the checklist but also trained the engineers in using the checklist. The checklist helped the District Engineers in assessing the critical infrastructures and making decision on the vulnerable structures.

GHI was fully committed to help Bhutan in the best way it can. i have gained lots of experiences working with GHI which will go a long in "Reducing disaster risk for a safe and happy Bhutan".

Geohazards International (Bhutan) is very important partner of Ministry of Education (Bhutan) in the fields of disaster risk reduction activities being carried out in the Ministry and schools. GHI had tremendously help us in the following key areas;
1. In developing the Strategy Objective Matrix for the Ministry of Education and Safe Schools – Action Plan (2013 – 2023)
2. In developing the National Action Plan for School Earthquake Safety which will guide the education sector to efficiently prioritize the risk reduction and preparedness activities incorporate mitigation measures in DRR programmes.
3. Provided financial & technical support for the conduct of Annual Preparedness Drill in 2013 in all the schools across the country
4. Trained the engineers on the conduct of Vulnerability Assessment of the unsafe school structures...
All these keys areas mentioned above clearly show the commitment of GHI for the safety of our students & Staff... Thank You GHI

I guess I could consider myself a client of GHI, although I was part of the starting proyect that gave birth to GHI back in the early 90's: The Quito, Ecuador, Earthquake Risk Management Project. I am the co-founder of the Geophysical Institute in Quito. In that condition, I felt as part of a very small team pursuing a dream: to raise earthquake risk awareness in a city where risk is really high and obvious but nobody apparently cared about it at the time. We succeded; a lot of technical and scientific expertise was put together all around the world and came to to help Quito ansewer a complicated question in a simple maner: What would be the outcome of a strong but credible earthquake in Quito if we let the city shake in a computer? So we figured out the earthquakes, entered the city in a computer and let it rock. Results changed local politicians and bussinesmen's minds due to the fact that we were capable of convening local leaders, communicating the risk the way they could understand it and delivering some simple ideas that could be adopted by them to change the situation. The City Mayor appointed for the first time a public officer to deal with earthquakes preparedness, not response; the bankers association strat publishing a newsletter on the topic that was also distributed to the insurance sector; the media realized that this issue was worth paying attention..... Several projects followed the Quito Risk one, both locally and internationally. I lost close contacts with GHI since then but I feel happy to learn that GHI is standing and alive and that some of us who started the dream are still helping people to cope with risk all around the seismic globe.

I am a founding principal of Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. an International engineering and design firm, and I am chairmen of the Thornton Tomasetti Foundation. Our foundation provides funding for both student scholarships and philantropic projects that help the Design and Construction Industry and people in need. GeoHazard's programs do both. That is why we have supported them with grants for the last two years for student involvment with world class engineering research on the behavior of concrete frames with infills to resist seismic forces. Much of their work helps in under- developed countries and teaches the local professionals and people how to apply the results. It is this synergistic effect of advancing research, educating students and teaching the local population that makes the work of GeoHadzards so effective. I have also found their pre-grant proposals and post -grant reports to be very complete and informative. Our Board of Governors is very pleased with our relationship with GeoHazards.

I am pleased to provide a review regarding the important work GeoHazards International (GHI) is doing in India in particular. I am Principal Engineering Geologist at a seismic hazards firm that provides consultation on many large infrastructure projects throughout the world. We were invited to join GHI's team to perform landslide and seismic hazard evaluation for Aizawl, a hilltop city in northeast India. From a technical point of view the project was well organized and professionally managed throughout its entirety. The team of experts assembled was of very high caliber and the resulting report, presentations, and meetings addressed the complex technical nature of the study area and provided detailed hazard evaluations. The most important aspect of the project was working with and engaging the local authorities and experts to implement important policy changes to mitigate hazard. GHI personnel provided excellent leadership and took their role very personally which allowed them to strongly connect with the local authorities. This personal connection was what allowed for progress to be made and hopefully for lives to be saved through important policy modifications to construction practices. I was very impressed with GHI and strongly recommend their work to other communities. They are very passionate about their work and take their mission statement to heart in performing their important work. I look forward to working with them again and hope they can expand their operations to many other vulnerable communities. - Sincerely Kevin Clahan

I am working as Dean, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture at NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. It is the oldest and one of the prime engineering institution of Pakistan.

My interaction with GHI started in 2007 through a project on capacity building of Pakistani engineering and architects. The project lasted for four and a half years. Through GHI were we able to training more than 250 professionals in the field of earthquake engineering throughout Pakistan.

I think a critical aspect of the work was that they work with consultants and volunteers from the top of the profession. This is the defining characteristic of their work. Through them we were able to work with professors UC, Berkeley and Stanford and some of the leading structural engineering consultants in California. We were able to develop a protocol for seismic vulnerability assessment existing buildings.

They also helped us in making improvements in your curriculum both at bachelors and masters level, which is not part of national engineering curriculum in Pakistan. This has started paying dividends in improving the quality of your graduates.

GHI worked with us at OECD in a global school seismic safety initiative starting in 2003. GHI assisted in preparing the ground for the OECD Recommendation concerning Guidelines on Earthquake Safety in Schools. The meeting of international experts that led to the development of this Recommendation was a ground-breaking event, and in the intervening years GHI has remained a valued and respected voice in DRR. On a personal level, Brian Tucker and Tom Tobin's commitment, leadership and enthusiasm was an inspiration.

Richard Yelland, Head of Division, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills