Vice Chancellor Visits Shanghai, China

Prof. J R Choudhury, VC, BU was invited to participate in "The Third International Workshop On Earthquakes And Megacities : Reducing Vulnerability - Increasing Sustainability of the World's Megacities", held in Shanghai, China from October 31 to November 2, 2002. The workshop was organized by the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI), http://www.megacities.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/, China Seismological Bureau (CSB), Shanghai Municipal People's Government and Shanghai Seismological Bureau (SSB). It focused on local initiatives for reducing vulnerability of large urban areas and the relationship of these initiatives to sustainable development for megacities. The workshop analyzed urban vulnerability reduction by addressing four components: Community Participation, Public Policy Actions, Land-Use Planning and Infrastructure Strengthening, and Implementation of a Culture of Prevention. As one of the megacities with a high degree of vulnerability to earthquakes, Dhaka has been included in "The Cluster Cities Project" initiated by EMI.