Where We Work

How We Work

Our Projects

• Tsunami Preparedness: Feasibility Study of Vertical Evacuation Structures in Sumatra
• Hospital Earthquake Safety Manual
• School Earthquake Safety and Preparedness Training (Gurgaon, India)
• Sponsoring Professional Memberships
• Earthquake Engineering Training and Curricula in Pakistan
• Delhi Earthquake Safety Initiative
• Improving Seismic Safety for the Tibetan Community in Dharamsala
• Tsunami Preparedness Guidebook
• GHI-OECD School Earthquake Safety Policy Initiative
• Disaster Preparedness Education Program in Turkish Schools
• Central Asia Region Earthquake Safety Initiative
• School Earthquake Safety in Gujarat
• Global Earthquake Safety Initiative
• RADIUS - Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis of Urban Areas against Seismic Disasters
• Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Risk Management
• Urban Earthquake Risk Management in Central Asia and Caucasus Region
• Quito School Earthquake Safety Project
• Istanbul Earthquake Scenario Workshop
• Quito Earthquake Risk Management

Hospital Earthquake Safety Manual

Delhi, India

Click here for information on how to download the Hospital Safety Manual

 

THE PROBLEM:

 

Delhi is located in the second-highest zone of seismic hazard in India. The primary contribution to its seismic hazard comes from the massive earthquakes that will eventually occur under the Himalayan foothills 250 kilometers to the north. Delhi's health sector is vulnerable and at risk. Earthquake damage to hospital equipment, building systems, architectural elements, and furnishings can render hospitals inoperable, even if the building structure is undamaged. The consequences of earthquake damage can include: key building systems being rendered non-functional; patients or staff being injured or killed by falling objects or by disconnected life support systems, and; expensive equipment being damaged or destroyed. Hospitals have just begun to address their risk. Much work remains to be done.

 

GHI'S RESPONSE:

In this project, supported by funding from Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re), GHI is developing a manual for hospitals on how to anchor and brace medical equipment, building systems, mechanical equipment, furnishings, and architectural elements to resist earthquake shaking. The Hospital Earthquake Safety Manual will reduce earthquake risk through technical education, by providing hospital administrators, staff, engineers, and construction contractors with ways to mitigate the hazards caused by objects that can fall, slide, or topple in an earthquake.

 

The introductory sections of the manual will be written primarily for hospital administrators, conveying to them the importance of mitigating earthquake falling hazards. The primary users of the manual's technical chapters will be hospital maintenance and engineering staff. The manual will contain standard anchoring solutions, so that users will not have to go to the expense and effort of hiring outside engineering with specialized expertise in order to anchor many common items. Those items include medical equipment, furnishings, pipes and ducts, tanks, mechanical and electrical equipment, and architectural elements.

 

The draft manual will be reviewed by experts in structural engineering, hospital operations, communications, and risk education from around the world. GHI will disseminate the final, printed version to hospitals and government health departments throughout India.