UTM Natural Disaster Centre Capable Of Formulating Master Plan To Reduce Risk Of Disaster

JOHOR BAHARU (Johor, Malaysia), June 24 (Bernama) -- The Natural Disaster Centre, which is part of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's (University of Technology, Malaysia or UTM) Faculty of Civil Engineering's framework, has been seen to be capable of formulating a master plan to reduce the impact and risk of natural disaster in the country. As such, the faculty's Head of Geoengineering and Geodisaster Research Team, Assoc Prof Dr Edy Tonnizam Mohammad said the centre would focus on research and development activities concerning geoengineering and geodisaster. "We want to reduce the impact or risk of disaster, especially in high-risk areas. Through the centre, we will try to come out with a master plan that focuses on the efforts," he told reporters here Tuesday. He said the master plan would need at least one or two years to be ready. Meanwhile, Indonesian Society for Geotechnical Engineering president Prof Dr Ir Masyhur Irsyam proposed for the earthquake risk map to be updated once every three to five years. He said with the presence of latest data, the risk map would be able to provide a more comprehensive risk description, besides could be used as early preparation to face any untoward incidents. It is learned that the last of Malaysia's earthquake risk map was done in 2000 and has yet to be updated. Masyhur earlier delivered a talk titled Earthquakes-Lessons Learned From Indonesian Experience. -- BERNAMA