Earthquakes and risk mitigation course: An engineering course for non engineers

A course on seismic risk mitigation was held at An-Najah National University within the activities of Support Action for Strengthening Palestinian-administrated Areas capabilities for Seismic Risk Mitigation project in Palestine (SASPARM) implemented by An-Najah National University in cooperation with the European Centre for training and research in Earthquake Engineering "EUCENTRE” and the Institute for Advanced Study (IUSS) in Pavia - Italy within the "FP7" European projects.

The course “Earthquakes and Risk Mitigation”, in which 85 students from all faculties at NNU (except engineering) participated, was successfully completed on January 27th, 2014. It has 32 hours and covered the following subjects:

1- An introduction to SASPARM project (objectives, activities, partners, funding, etc) and a general introduction to disaster risk assessment concept.

2- An introduction to seismology and the seismicity of Palestine.

3- Local site effect factors and land-use policy.

4- The mechanism and interactions between ground motions, foundations and buildings , (The concept of dynamic behavior of buildings).

5- The concept of reinforced concrete structure elements.

6- The seismic vulnerability of buildings, including cases studies from Palestinian common buildings and from buildings from other countries.

7- Basic concepts of earthquake-resistant building design.

8- Seismic education, which included precautionary measures before, during and after an earthquakes.

The course also covered the basics of rapid assessment of the damages and losses (post disaster assessment), including the determination of the damage grades, as well as the concept of risk maps and emergency response operations. The course also included a visit to the Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Reduction Center at NNU.