Personal Profile of Dr. Jagmohan Humar

Dr. Jagmohan Humar, is Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor of Civil Engineering at Carleton University. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). At Carleton he served as the Chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1989 to 2000.

Dr. Humar has received several awards in recognition of his excellence in teaching and research and for services rendered to his profession and to Canada. They include Carleton University’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research Achievement Award, Davidson Dunton Lecturership, and Chancellor’s Professorship, and the CSCE’s Gzowski Medal, the A.B. Sanderson Award and the Whitman Wright Award.

Dr. Humar’s main research interest is in structural dynamics and earthquake engineering. He has published widely in these areas and is also the author of a comprehensive and authoritative book entitled “Dynamics of Structures”, now in its second edition. Dr. Humar has also served as a special consultant for several outstanding civil engineering projects, including the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa and the SkyDome in Toronto.

Dr. Humar is an active member of the community. He serves as the President of the Jain Society of Ottawa Carleton and a member of Ottawa’s Multi-faith Council. He is also a founder and active participant in a project on Women Empowerment in India. In recognition of the quality of the project, the Canadian Development Agency provided valuable support to it during its formative years. Dr. Humar is well known for his poetical works in Hindi and has published a book of poems entitled “Jeevan ke Rang”.

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Synopsis of the Talk

TOPIC of his talk at the ICFC on June 3, 2007: "From Himalay to Bhuj: The forces that shape and shake the earth"

Synopsis — Under a relatively thin but solid crust of the earth, there lies a restless viscous mass of very hot soil and rock called mantle. From time to time it vents its fury by erupting through the mouth of a volcano, or causing the crust to shake. More often, however, the tectonic forces trapped in the viscous mass remain invisible, slowly but certainly changing the topography of the earth. These are the forces that have caused the continents to drift, and mountains such as Himalayas to form.

The earth’s crust is divided into a series of plates separated from each other by fault lines. As the underlying mantle moves these plates move relative to each other colliding, sliding, subducting and fracturing in a sudden spasm. The energy released through fracturing or subduction sends tremors through the earth. These are the tremors that we know as earthquakes.

Earthquake is the natural hazard that has caused most deaths and destruction. The proposed talk will explore the phenomenon of earthquake. It will address questions such as: can we predict an earthquake, what is cause of the loss of life and property during an earthquake, what can we do to minimize this loss, and others.

Many of these questions will be addressed in the framework of the Bhuj (India) earthquake of 26 January, 2001 and illustrated by pictures. The speaker led a team of Canadian engineers to survey the damage caused by the earthquake and to learn from what was observed in the aftermath of the quake. The experiences of that visit will be related.

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