Type: Training course
Host(s): ECO Secretariat UN-Habitat Tehran office
Date: 02 Sep 2018 to 04 Sep 2018
Venue: ECO Secretariat
Location: Tehran, Iran
Summary:
Earthquakes have caused massive destruction to human life and property, where these events have occurred near human settlements. Due to the very nature of release of energy, damage is evident which, however, will not culminate in a disaster unless it strikes a populated area. As cities increase in size, so the potential for massive destruction increases. About 75% of earthquake fatalities are caused by the collapse of buildings, which primarily are weak masonry buildings (adobe, rubble stone, or rammed earth) or unreinforced fired brick and concrete block masonry that can collapse even at low intensity of ground shaking. Unfortunately a very large proportion of the world’s current building stock of such buildings resides in the developing third world or marginally developed world.
Experience gathered during recent disaster operations demonstrates the urgent need for highly skilled professionals with multifaceted specialized expertise in structural and non-structural hazard mitigation, and earthquakes, as lack of interdisciplinary personnel has proved to be a barrier to efficient and effective response.
UN-Habitat’s approach to strengthening human settlement resilience as a key determinant for ensuring the effectiveness of response interventions during times of crises, and subsequent sustainable development, is embodied in its programmes. These programmes goes beyond conventional approaches to ‘risk reduction’, delivering a forward-looking, multi-sectorial, multihazard, multi-stakeholder model for hazard mitigation that recognizes the complexities and unique value of cities, and the inherent interdependencies of each part of Human settlements.
Since 2010, the Economic Cooperation Organization ( ECO) which was founded in 1985 in Tehran, forming one of the biggest regional blocs in Asia and beyond as an economic intergovernmental organization with 10 member states; I.R. Iran, Turkey, I.R. Pakistan, I.R. Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan have been working together with UN-Habitat in promoting sustainable development through capacity building programmes in the region.
By taking into account the mandate of both organizations, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) and ECO intend to jointly organize a training course for the engineers and professional experts in the ECO countries on “Earthquake resilient rural construction” to be held in Tehran – Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the needs. This programme aims to provide engineers, architects and experts in ECO member states with the practical and most update concepts of hazard mitigation by capacity building and training of trainers to disseminate the knowledge and skills.
Contacts:
Golnoosh Mozafari (Ms.)
Disaster Risk Reduction &Training Consultant
UN-Habitat Office in Tehran
Tel: +98 (21) 88255942 ~6 (Ext. 579)
Email: golnoosh.mozafari@un.org