McMaster earthquake specialist to help rebuilding efforts in Southeast Asia

default-hero-image

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/ghobarah.jpg” caption=”Ahmed Ghobarah”]Ahmed Ghobarah, a structures and earthquake engineering specialist at McMaster, is traveling to Southeast Asia today (Jan. 31) as part of a Canadian engineering and science group selected to evaluate the effects of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. The group includes earthquake, structural, coastal and geotechnical engineers.

Ghobarah, a professor of civil engineering at McMaster, will be evaluating the effect of the earthquake and tsunami in Thailand and Indonesia on engineered structures, buildings, bridges and other infrastructure. The information gathered and knowledge acquired will be used to develop precautionary measures against future disasters and provide insight into the design of structures to survive these events. This includes potential applications to the west coast of Canada.

The investigation also sheds light into the appropriate rehabilitation and reconstruction methodologies, enabling engineers to recommend best techniques to recover from such disasters.