News Release from NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering

Simla Workshop, India, June 2007

June 2007

Jitendra Bothara of Beca was invited to give an expert presentation on "Seismic Assessment and Strengthening of Masonry Buildings" at an International workshop on Seismic Evaluation and Strengthening of Existing Structures in Simla, Northern India. This was jointly held by the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamidpur, India and the Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), Simla, India.

Jitendra is a Senior Seismic Engineer with Beca in their Wellington, New Zealand, office. Jitendra is very experienced in the seismic resilience of masonry buildings in the Himalayan region - in particular from his work with the National Society for Earthquake Technology Nepal, and also in the recent implementation of the Initial Evaluation Procedure for assessing the seismic resilience of buildings in New Zealand. He is currently leading the development of a Tutorial on Stone Masonry Houses under the IAEE/EERI World Housing Encyclopedia project.

The workshop was held at the HIPA complex, Simla, on 15-16 June 2007. Around 120 people from government, consulting companies, and non-governmental organisations participated in the workshop. Most participants were from Himachal Pradeshand elsewhere in India, along with others from Greece, Canada, Taiwan and New Zealand.

For further information:
Jitendra Bothara   Email: Jitendra.Bothara@beca.com