LAHORE: The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP) and Pakistan Engineering Congress on Tuesday organised a one-day workshop on ‘Dam Safety and Earthquakes’ at the WAPDA House. The workshop was attended by engineers belonging to WAPDA, Institution of Engineers Pakistan, Pakistan Engineering Congress, Pakistan Geo-technical Engineering Society, Punjab Irrigation and Communication and Works departments and different universities. International Commission on Large Dam (ICOLD) Committee on Seismic aspect of Dam Design Chairman and member of the Panel of Experts on Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project Dr Martin Wieland delivered a series of lectures in the workshop. Speaking on the occasion, he emphasised the need to adopt new safety concepts for large dams all over the world. Highlighting the scenario in Pakistan, he said that Pakistan has large dams like Tarbela and Mangla where periodic dam safety reviews are necessary. Besides safety arrangements for these dams, which are already in place, integral dam safety concepts may also be exercised. Integral Dam safety concepts include structural safety, dam safety monitoring, operational safety and guidelines for emergency planning, he added. During his lectures, Dr Martin made detailed deliberations on modern dam safety concepts and sustainability, performance of large dams during earthquakes, seismic safety aspects of existing dams and current seismic design criteria. He also highlighted seismically active faults in dam foundations, seismic aspects of bottom outlets, spillways, penstock and electro-mechanical equipment and long-term dam safety monitoring of concrete arch dams. He gave examples of various gravity dams, roller compacted concrete and rock and earth filled dams built across the globe. Earlier, in his welcome address, WAPDA Advisor Dr Izharul Haq apprised the audience about objectives of holding the workshop. He expressed hope that the views presented by Dr Martin Wieland would be beneficial for engineers in discharge of their duties. A question-answer session was also held in the end of the workshop, wherein Dr Martin responded to the queries raised by the participants.