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Dear Colleagues:

Many of you have expressed anguish at the enormous tragedy caused by the
tsunami recently. In fact, I expect that there may be some damage due to
ground shaking caused by aftershocks in parts of Andaman and Nicobar
islands since some of the aftershocks have been close to these islands,
and the constructions types in these areas are highly vulnerable.
Indeed, despite the numerous discussions, workshops, trainings, capacity
building activities, assurances by different agencies, the country
remains highly vulnerable to earthquakes.

A number of newspapers have been saying that this was the first ever
tsunami in India. In fact, a number of "experts" interviewed by the news
channels on TV have said this. I even heard a Central Govt minister
saying it. Prof Iyengar has already discussed the tsunami of 1945. There
is enough scientific literature to show that Indian coasts suffered
from tsunamis in 1762, 1881 and 1941 also!

It shows clearly not only that the government agencies have not been
able to come to grips with the earthquake problem facing our country,
but also the state of knowledge and ifnormation in our scientific
community.

On this solemn occasion, we at NICEE resolve to work even harder than
ever before towards dissemination of earthquake engineering information,
and I hope I can say the same on behalf of about 1000 persons community
of SEFI.

With best regards,

Sudhir K Jain
NICEE, IITK

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