PREPARE Africa
We are developing a seismic risk management framework for East Africa. Our project produces practical tools and guidelines for enhanced disaster preparedness, in partnership with local government and academic institutions.
PREPARE (Enhancing PREParedness for East African Countries through Seismic Resilience Engineering) is a three-year project funded the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Running from 2017-2020, the project aims to overcome existing barriers to designing seismically resilient infrastructure in least developed countries, using advanced risk assessments and suitable low-cost engineering solutions.
Our objectives
- To develop integrated seismic risk assessment tools for East African countries by accounting for alternative hypotheses and uncertainties associated with hazard, exposure, and vulnerability components comprehensively and consistently;
- To co-produce a variety of seismic hazard-risk maps and seismic design guidelines in collaboration with local governmental and academic partners;
- To improve the knowledge on tectonic behaviour of major fault systems in East Africa by gathering new field data (geology and GPS) and by analysing regional seismicity data;
- To develop bespoke seismic vulnerability models of unreinforced masonry (brick) constructions in East Africa through an extensive experimental programme (i.e. material testing of local bricks and pull-over testing of real-scale brick walls) and advanced structural modelling; and
- To investigate the effectiveness of low-cost engineering solutions to improve the seismic resilience of the buildings and infrastructure in East Africa.
2018 PREPARE Workshop
The event built on active research links among the UK and Malawian universities in this project, and was organised by the University of Cardiff and University of Bristol.