💡 On smart housing - A column by Jorge Abramian, WCCE President
Almost every day we hear striking news related to natural hazards and their disastrous consequences. Such news immediately call public attention and break the news all over the world. Looking at the screen, we civil engineers can see how very often the forces of nature are many times amplified by circumstances that could have been conveniently addresed by humans. The question, then, is whether the general public and the policymakers are conscious that civil engineers can help to mitigate and even eliminate most of the consequences.
📆 18th WCCE General Assembly
We are in mid Spring and the time for WCCE's General Assembly comes nearer. This time WCCE is travelling to Africa as WCCE's 18th General Assembly will be hosted by Institution of Engineers Kenya jointly with the celebration of IEK's 30th Convention. The activities regarding 17th WCCE General Assembly will be held from 14th to 17th November 2023 in Mombasa, Kenya.
Further information will be delivered shortly on our website.
🏡 Safe, Sound and Sustainable Housing in Africa | Preliminary results
Since March, World Council of Civil Engineers | WCCE, the European Council of Civil Engineers | ECCE and the Federation of African Engineering Organizations | FAEO have been collecting information from African professionals in order to develop a global Strategy for Safe, Sound and Sustainable Housing around the world, which aims to raise awareness on the need for "Safe - Sound - Sustainable" (3S) buildings, which can be fulfilled by integrating a structural/seismic upgrade of the existing buildings together with energy efficiency improvements. Based on ECCE's original initiative from 2020, a joint ECCE – WCCE group reviewed and updated the 3S Approach Manifesto [EN|ES] for a global scope. Should you be interested in the survey's preliminary results, please Read more
📯 On the need of "Safe - Sound - Sustainable" (3S) buildings
The World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development 2023 (WED2023) with its annual theme of “Engineering innovation for a more resilient world” was celebrated last Saturday 4th March 2023. The European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) actively participated in the celebration of the WED2023, taking part in the International Conference Engineering the Cities of the Future that was held in Madrid, 2-3 March 2023 organized by the Institute of Engineering of Spain, WFEO and the MWCC with the sponsorship of UNESCO's Spanish National Committee.
World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE) and the European Council of Civil Engineers presented their 3S Approach joint initiative [EN|ES] , which aims to raise awareness on the need for "Safe - Sound - Sustainable" (3S) buildings, which can be fulfilled by integrating a structural/seismic upgrade of the existing buildings together with energy efficiency improvements. Based on ECCE's original initiative from 2020, a joint ECCE – WCCE group reviewed and updated the 3S Approach Manifesto and Executive Summary.
🔍Pre-assessment report on February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaras Pazarcik and Elbistan earthquakes
by the Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers
WCCE would like to expresses its most profound condolences and sympathy to the Turkish Chamber Of Civil Engineers (TCCE) and the people of Turkey for this tragedy. Our heart goes out to all those affected by this tremendous disaster.
Two major earthquakes occurred on Monday, February 6, 2023, in Turkey. The first one, with a magnitude of 7.7, struck at 04.17 h, at Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş; the second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş at 13.24 h. Both earthquakes caused widespread collapsed and severely damaged residential and commercial buildings, public facilities, and infrastructure. The death toll is over 41.000 people already and rising, more than 80.000 were injured and the wounds and trauma caused is immeasurable.
📯 WCCE President's take on our last General Assembly
The GA was a great success. Portuguese Ordem dos Engenheiros was able to organize the meetings very well and we were able to gather, in person, the Presidents of ASCE, ECCE, WCCE, WFEO, and, of course, their “bastonario”. Even the new FAEO president attended virtually to the GA. I would give top marks to this Assembly !!’Not only we had good discussions about our profession, but also we were able to set the basis for different inititatives, and some guidelines for the future. I hope you all will be able to see them through soon enough. I am very grateful to all who participated, especially to our magnificent hosts. Our next must be to focus on the work of our Standing Committees and Working Groups, finetune our bylaws, and proceed with some special projects for which I expect the contributions of all of you.
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