ISLAMABAD, July 6: The Higher Education Commission on Thursday announced that the earthquake engineering centre on NWFP University of Engineering and Technology’s would be upgraded.

It said that Central Development Working Party in recent meeting had approved the project submitted by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) entitled “strengthening of existing earthquake engineering centre” at NWFP University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Peshawar.

The project is the follow-up of the recommendations made in an international earthquake rehabilitation conference held last year at the HEC under the auspices of NWFP UET, Peshawar.

The speakers from several countries including the US, Italy, Turkey and Macedonia elaborated on several issues related to seismic hazard assessment, vulnerability of structures, building codes and its implementation and disaster management.

One of the major recommendations of the conference was the up-gradation of the Earthquake Engineering Centre of the university which was established in 2003 with the financial assistance of the HEC to an “Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology” so that it shall be able to play an effective role in reducing seismic risk to the community at regional level.

The project aims not only at strengthening of existing earthquake engineering centre to fulfil the needs of the country but also at producing 100 professionals directly through its postgraduate courses — two semesters per year.

According to the project, 200 professionals would be trained through seminars, workshops and printed material in the field of earthquake engineering and engineering seismology. Ten PhD would also be trained, along with 8 post doctorates and 8 faculty members of civil engineering department related to structural/earthquake engineering.

The project envisages conducting research in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology for minimizing seismic risk and improving structural performance utilising strong motion instrumentation and other lab equipment.

Another important objective of the project is disseminating knowledge to common people for improving quality of construction, emergency preparedness in earthquakes and seismic disaster mitigation.