Civil Engineering in Disaster Management

Disasters are adverse or unfortunate events or sudden misfortunes which have a profound effect on society, citizens and the nation. They may occur due to natural causes such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods or cyclones or due to man-made causes such as blasts, missile, nuclear or chemical plant accidents or fire. Generally, during a large-scale disaster, civil engineering structures like buildings, bridges, dams, road and railway lines, water supply projects, coastal structures, infrastructure facilities etc are severely affected, causing immense inconvenience to people and disrupting or hampering routine life. Prevention of natural disasters is not possible but reduction in the undesirable effects of disasters can be the only way to cope with them. Natural disasters identify the mistakes made in the process of development of civil engineering structures in that particular locality, and teach important lessons for the future. For a country prone to disasters such as India, disaster management is a crucial subject. The structural aspect of disaster management is where the role of Civil Engineers comes into play. This study deals with the interrelationship between disaster management and civil engineering. This paper includes a brief introduction about disasters in the country in particular Jammu and Kashmir Floods of 2014 and the role that must have been played by civil engineers. Latest developments in technologies which support civil engineering in disaster management, in particular to analyze the health of structure, which is very crucial in determining the way it will behave in times if disasters, have also been looked into.