Science For Nature

“100 killed in an earthquake in southern Asia…..”, “Tens of people engulfed in a fire in a busy by lane in Delhi….”, “Thousands killed in Tsunami of December 26 in Asia…..”

Do these disasters instigate you to say that, had you been there, you could have made a difference? If yes then this is a chance for you to showcase your skill and acumen when it matters the most, i.e. when disaster strikes. Be a part of the Natural Disaster Management and make a difference.

Prelims:-

• It will be in the form of a general quiz with questions pertaining to basic of natural disasters. The participants don’t require to be a pro in structures and other fields related to civil engineering.
• The quiz will be a mixed bag round having disaster history as well as questions pertaining to stability of structures.
• This will be a written round and teams qualifying shall enter the second round.
• The total number of teams qualifying for second round will be 12.

Second Round:-

• It will check the ability of the teams to make a building structure with the wooden blocks provided and the stability of the structure will be examined by removing the blocks from the structure and seeing how long the structure is able to sustain itself.
• The teams qualifying in this round shall be eligible to enter the third and the final round.

Final Round:-

• The final round will involve building up a model of a city, with the resources provided, which can sustain an earthquake for the maximum possible duration.
• The city should be first planned on the paper and then the layout should be transferred to the model.
• The city must consist of the buildings of minimum height 21-24cm, maximum height 30-33cm, at least 5 - 7 buildings or this height or more, small houses, drains, open spaces for temporary housing after earthquakes, space for dumping the debris, space for tube wells, etc.
• The earthquake will be in the form of vibrations which the model shall be subjected to.
• The city’s foundation should be laid according to the specifications.
•  A rough layout of the city (just an example) is shown below. For indicating spaces for temporary housing, debris dumping etc., participants can use kulfi sticks to mark a boundary of that area and place a small flag indicating the name of that are.

RESOURCES:

• It will involve usage of easily available and cheap materials for making the miniature of a city. Materials like ice-cream sticks, kulfi sticks etc are available in plenty. They can be used to form an outer frame of the structures to be a part of the city.
• Apart from these, small wooden blocks of size approximately 3*4*5cm shall be used to make the basic structure of the buildings. These wooden blocks can be easily obtained as scrap from any dealer. Wooden blocks are the best option as they are cheap and can be easily procured from the dealers. Steel and plastic can be considered as replacements but that will only increase the cost of the event and the left out steel will be wasted. Since we are dealing with management and global warming issue, wasting resource like steel will not be a good option. If plastic is considered, then the blocks would need to be made to order which will again increase the cost.
• To give the structures a better foundation, sand will also be provided.
• For judging sustainability and strength of every model, it shall be subjected to vibrations by the judging committee. Team, whose model is able to withstand these vibrations for the maximum duration, shall be declared winner.

JUDGING PARAMETERS  :

• stability of the high rise buildings
• planning of the city and its layout
• arrangement of blocks
• Time duration up to which the model can withstand the vibrations.

WORKSHOP:-

The workshops to be held prior to the event are likely to be about the disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, etc which are in some way related to Global Warming. Disaster Management is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks. It is a discipline that involves preparing for disaster before it occurs, disaster response (e.g., emergency evacuation, quarantine, mass decontamination, etc.), and supporting, and rebuilding society after natural or human-made disasters have occurred. In general, any disaster management or emergency management is the continuous process by which all individuals, groups, and communities manage hazards in an effort to avoid or ameliorate the impact of disasters resulting from the hazards. Actions taken depend in part on perceptions of risk of those exposed. Effective emergency management relies on thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of government and non-government involvement. Activities at each level (individual, group, community) affect the other levels. It is common to place the responsibility for governmental emergency management with the institutions for civil defense or within the conventional structure of the emergency services. In the private sector, emergency management is sometimes referred to as business continuity planning.

In these workshops, topics related to the following will be discussed:-

• History of disasters especially earthquakes
• How to minimize a disaster
• How to prepare yourself to deal with disasters
• Recovery post disasters
• Disaster management:-an overview.
• International organizations helping in disaster management

The date for the workshop is 12th feb,2010.

PRIZES AND AWARDS:

• Following are the prizes to be awarded
  
  
• Winner
• First Runner up
• Second Runner up

   Prizes worth INR 75,000 to be won.

• Participation certificates would be awarded to all the scholars who have registered.

Good Luck to Everyone!!!

Event Heads:-

For Queries :-
disastermanagement@innovafest.com