People don?t bank on govt for safety: US prof

AFTER THE terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001, people have become more pro-active in matters of their safety and security. They do not depend on the assistance provided to them by the government or any other agency, according to Prof Venkatesh Kodur of Michigan University who is also a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the USA.

AFTER THE terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001, people have become more pro-active in matters of their safety and security. They do not depend on the assistance provided to them by the government or any other agency, according to Prof Venkatesh Kodur of Michigan University who is also a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the USA.

HT Image

Prof Kodur, who is here to attend a two-day seminar on “Engineering Response to Hazards of Terrorism” at the IIT-K, told newsmen that though the US government had set up a high-level committee of which he was one of the members, to enquire into the causes of the destruction of the prestigious WTC towers, it did not propose to amend or to introduce new construction codes for the building.

However, the citizens and builders had themselves become security conscious and they had developed new techniques to construct utmost safe buildings, he said adding they had themselves taken a lead to improve the building designs and to use the most effective construction material.

Prof Kodur further said that the self-decision to make buildings safer had now become a public movement in the country. He said some eminent builders and civil engineers in the USA were of opinion that no building could be designed to meet extreme conditions. But they agreed that technological development should continue to mitigate the losses of terrorist attacks.

Prof Kodur suggested that besides constructing safer buildings people and the organisations should also take personal interest in promoting safety to them and to the buildings. Citing an example, he said, in Japan organisations provided a water bottle at the back of the office seat and a torch so that in times of emergency when the power supply failed people could move out safely from the multi storied buildings.

Later speaking on the “Lessons of World Trade Center Collapse” he said most of the deaths at the WTC were caused due to dark stairs of the emergency exit and the absence of effective fire-fighting module. He, however, said that after the incident stairs in most of the buildings were painted with photo-luminous paint which showed the way even in the dark. He said that the absence of effective internal security was the chief reason of heavy toll than the blast itself. He suggested developing foolproof communication technologies for the high-rise buildings, new column system, evacuation plan, floor system, fire resistant plans and emergency exit and rescue plans.