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Cycle 1 (2011 Deadline)
Toward geohazard assessment in Bangladesh: academic infrastructure and knowledge transfer PI: Syed Humayun Akhter, Dhaka University U.S. Partner: Michael Steckler, Columbia University Project Dates: May 2012 - May 2016 Project Overview Situated at the junction of three tectonic plates and overlying the world’s largest delta, Bangladesh is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. This rapidly developing nation is undergoing rampant urbanization and has a population of more than 169 million (2021), almost half the population of the United States crowded into an area the size of Iowa. The country faces frequent water-related natural disasters, including widespread seasonal floods, recurrent tropical cyclones with large storm surges, river erosion and channel avulsions, permanent land loss from sea level rise, and natural groundwater arsenic. These have overshadowed the severe hazard from rare but devastating earthquakes.
To address seismic and other natural hazards, this project focused on creating a sediment sample and data storage facility and transferring knowledge to the local geoscience and engineering communities through training courses. The goal was to increase local capacity to evaluate and mitigate hazards, while also contributing valuable data and insights to the U.S. partner's ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported research.
At the time the project began, there was no place to archive sediment samples in Bangladesh. Encouraged by the success of the small seismology training facility previously established under a PEER pilot program grant, this project renovated, furnished, and equipped space donated by Dhaka University into a fully functioning center. The first contributions were expected to be samples from the more than 250 wells being drilled as part of the U.S. partner's NSF-funded project. The sample repository will be open to all Bangladeshi researchers to store samples and analyze results regarding a multitude of hazards, including earthquakes, sea level rise, land subsidence, arsenic contamination, and river avulsions.
The project workplan also involved several training workshops in Bangladesh on earthquake geology, seismic processing and interpretation, and seismic hazard mapping and its role in disaster risk. This will help establish a new line of research in Bangladesh to help trainees begin a coordinated countrywide effort to recover the geologic record of earthquakes in Bangladesh and create a new generation of students able to apply earthquake geology techniques. Through creation of the new center and the associated training activities, the project should also help to bring up-to-date knowledge to geoscientists, engineers, and government administrators in Bangladesh in order to integrate these disparate groups and facilitate resilience against seismic hazard threats.
Final Summary of Project Activities Thanks to PEER funding, the PEER project team purchased a laser particle size analyzer and a handheld X-ray fluorescent (XRF) analyzer. Students and teachers were given initial training on these tools by engineers from their respective companies. Graduate students used both tools for their research. The researchers completed their renovation of the lab, receiving and organizing sediment samples from the U.S. partner’s BanglaPIRE project and from other organizations. With the help of the U.S. partner, the team also purchased and installed a server to develop a database of sediment samples archived in the repository. The team received more than 15,000 sediment samples from 419 bore holes drilled along 19 transects across deltas in Bangladesh, building a first-of-its-kind archive in the country. The grantees successfully organized three training workshops and two seminars. In the first 10-day training course, 20 participants learned about seismic data interpretation using professional software. The workshop included two days of learning about theoretical aspects of seismic reflection data processing and interpretation, and eight days of hand-on training. The second training course, on the topic Earthquake Geology and Paleoseismology, involved lectures, lab work, and a day of fieldwork at the coastal belt of Teknaf. The participants learned how to identify historical earthquakes from landforms and neotectonics, demonstrating in the field the systematic procedures for collecting field data and sampling for dating earthquake events. During a third training on XRF and Laser Particle Size Analyzer Instrument Operation and Data Interpretation, participants learned the operation and use of XRF spectometers and laser particle size analyzers through lectures and hands-on training. Students used sediment samples from the project’s sample repository for analyses. A variety of researchers and visitors from different organizations have shown interest in the new soil samples and the PI’s work. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has given sediment samples to the repository. After hearing about the Multichannel Seismic Processing and Interpretation training program, officials from an international oil company provided stipends to two Master’s students to work with their seismic reflection data using the Kingdom Suite software. The PI also presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in 2015. PublicationS.H. Akhter, L. Seeber, and M.S. Steckler. 2015. The Northern Rupture of the 1762 Arakan Meghathrust Earthquake and other Potential Earthquake Sources in Bangladesh. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2015, abstract ID T41B-2887. https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm15/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/80891
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