Grant to Help Bangladesh with Earthquake Vulnerability 

Professors from Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) and Center for Disaster Risk Management at Virginia Tech (DRM/VT) have recently been awarded a grant to reduce the susceptibility of earthquake damage in Bangladesh.

ARI Director / Professor Saifur Rahman and DRM/VT Director / Professor Fred Krimgold will begin work in January 2004 on a grant partnering with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) to reduce the vulnerability of Bangladesh to seismic hazards.

“The grant came as extremely good news,” Krimgold said. “It is designed to support university to university interactions related to disaster risk management. My feeling has long been that university relationships with developing countries provide a stable base for long-term collaboration and improvement.”

"Virginia Tech and BUET have a long-standing relationship that includes a memorandum of understanding for international exchange programs," Rahman said. "The agreement includes the exchange of scholars, students, academic information and publications as well as the joint-organization of research programs and conferences."

Both Rahman and Krimgold believe the joint-research grant will improve Bangladesh’s ability to reduce damages in future earthquakes.

“The United States has invested a great deal of time and effort in earthquake issues; we can now effectively share our experience and capability with other countries. In this case, we want to help Bangladesh reduce disaster losses and improve quality of life after calamities,” Krimgold said. “By increasing personal security and social stability we can contribute to lasting social and economic development.”

The two-year partnership’s primary activities will include:

• A human resources capability assessment;

• Training for professionals related to earthquake hazard reduction;

• Development of tools and programs for seismic vulnerability assessment for buildings in urban area; and

• Establishment of regional and US institutional linkages for the National Center for Earthquake Engineering at BUET.

“The primary activities are the beginning…we are leveraging our efforts. We will work with the professors who will work with the future teachers and professionals, who will in turn inform the public on what needs to be accomplished and how to sustain the required work,” Krimgold said.

In partnership with the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE) and The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), participants in this project hope to benefit Bangladesh by reducing the number of human losses in an earthquake, protecting the poorer residents and economic assets, shielding the productive labor force, reducing economic and social disruption and avoiding distortion of development planning after a seismic event.

The project is made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through a solicitation from the Association Liaison Office (ALO).

For more information, please contact Saifur Rahman or Fred Krimgold

DOE Wind Powering America Program Manager Phil Dougherty discusses regional wind energy purchases with Alden Hathaway, Director of the Clean Power Program for Environmental Resources Trust.

ARI Hosts Wind Energy Meeting

Participating in Virginia’s initiative to develop the world’s fastest-growing energy technology—wind energy—the Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) hosted the Mid-Atlantic Wind Powering America Peer Exchange Meeting December 4, 2003. 

Partnering with Wind Powering America, a program of the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the ARI-hosted meeting focused on green power marketing, environmental issues concerns, off-shore wind prospects and federal, state and local incentives for using wind power.

“This meeting provided an opportunity for representatives of Wind Powering America initiatives in different mid-Atlantic states to share information and experiences about how they have been able to educate regulatory and economic development agencies in their states, as well as the general public, about the energy, environmental and economic benefits of wind power development,” said George Hagerman, ARI researcher and liaison for the conference. “These types of peer exchange meetings enable a given state program to benefit from the lessons learned in other states without having to go through the same trial-and-error learning process to discover what works.” 

Participating organizations included the New Jersey Clean Energy Program; the Maryland Department of Environmental Protection; the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy; Page County, VA; Virginia Tech’s Center for Energy and the Global Environment (CEAGE); the Clean Air Council, the Pennsylvania Wind Campaign, Environmental Resources Trust; Energetics, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and James Madison University.

A future workshop in southwest Virginia is now being organized to determine how wind energy can benefit coalfield and agricultural economies.

For more information, contact George Hagerman or visit http://www.eere.energy.gov/windpoweringamerica

View Past Issues

Virginia Tech's
Alexandria Research
Institute
206 N. Washington St.
Suite 400
Alexandria, VA 22314
703 518-8080

Copyright ARI 2003