On June 15, 2018, Prof. Sudhir Jain delivered a lecture titled “Improving Earthquake Safety of Buildings: A Story of Local Solutions.” Prof. Jain is a professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and the rector of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (Ahmedabad, India), as well as a former president of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE).
His visit to Belgrade was organized by SUZI and the Department of Technical Mechanics and Theory of Structures at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade. The event was sponsored by Gradina d.o.o. from Belgrade and was attended by more than 60 SUZI members and other interested professionals.
The lecture addressed the consequences of earthquakes and engineering practices in India — a country of 1.3 billion people, much of which lies in high seismic risk zones, especially Northern India and the Himalayan region. A key focus was the 2001 Bhuj earthquake (magnitude 7.7), one of the most devastating in modern Indian history. The disaster caused over 14,000 deaths and major economic damage, exposing critical issues such as poor design standards and construction quality. It marked the first collapse of modern multi-story concrete buildings due to an earthquake in India.
In response, the need for professional education in earthquake engineering became clear, leading to the establishment of the National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE, www.nicee.org).
Prof. Jain emphasized the importance of context-specific solutions to improve the seismic safety of both new and existing buildings. He presented examples from the Indian subcontinent, including confined masonry as a safer alternative to unreinforced masonry, and concrete frames with masonry infill for low-rise buildings (up to five stories).
He also noted that earthquake-related losses — both human and material — are significantly higher in developing countries compared to developed ones, and that this disparity is increasing over time.
This lecture drew on themes from Prof. Jain’s invited Mallet-Milne Lecture titled “Earthquake Safety in India: Achievements, Challenges, and Opportunities,” organized by the UK’s Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED).
On June 15, 2018, Prof. Sudhir Jain delivered a lecture titled “Improving Earthquake Safety of Buildings: A Story of Local Solutions.” Prof. Jain is a professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and the rector of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (Ahmedabad, India), as well as a former president of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE).
His visit to Belgrade was organized by SUZI and the Department of Technical Mechanics and Theory of Structures at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade. The event was sponsored by Gradina d.o.o. from Belgrade and was attended by more than 60 SUZI members and other interested professionals.
The lecture addressed the consequences of earthquakes and engineering practices in India — a country of 1.3 billion people, much of which lies in high seismic risk zones, especially Northern India and the Himalayan region. A key focus was the 2001 Bhuj earthquake (magnitude 7.7), one of the most devastating in modern Indian history. The disaster caused over 14,000 deaths and major economic damage, exposing critical issues such as poor design standards and construction quality. It marked the first collapse of modern multi-story concrete buildings due to an earthquake in India.
In response, the need for professional education in earthquake engineering became clear, leading to the establishment of the National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE, www.nicee.org).
Prof. Jain emphasized the importance of context-specific solutions to improve the seismic safety of both new and existing buildings. He presented examples from the Indian subcontinent, including confined masonry as a safer alternative to unreinforced masonry, and concrete frames with masonry infill for low-rise buildings (up to five stories).
He also noted that earthquake-related losses — both human and material — are significantly higher in developing countries compared to developed ones, and that this disparity is increasing over time.
This lecture drew on themes from Prof. Jain’s invited Mallet-Milne Lecture titled “Earthquake Safety in India: Achievements, Challenges, and Opportunities,” organized by the UK’s Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED).
