Disaster Recovery and the Road Ahead - IGNOU

Dowels
Illustration 1
A dowel is a wooden metal peg joining two adjacent parts.
Ductility
The ductility of a building is the ability to bend, sway and deform by large amounts without collapse.
The opposite condition in a structure is called brittleness. The brittleness in a building arises due to
the use of brittle construction materials like adobe, stone, brick and concrete blocks and from the
wrong design of structures using otherwise ductile materials. The brittle material generally fails under
the loads, leading to heavy damages in case of earthquakes and cyclones. The property of brittleness
can be changed to ductility within the buildings through the addition of modest amount of ductile
materials such as wooden elements in the adobe construction or steel reinforcement in masonry and
concrete construction. The materials like wood and steel are inherently ductile and can save the
structure from collapse in case of earthquake if they are properly placed at the points of maximum
tensile stress.
Eave Projections
Overhanging edges of a roof.
Evaluation
Evaluation is the use of social research methods to systematically investigate a programme’s
effectiveness. It is conducted either prior to beginning of an initiative or as an initiative comes to an
end. These forms of evaluation are called formative evaluation (at the beginning) and summative
evaluation (at the end) respectively.
Evaluation means:
Reflection process on what has occurred
Assessment of achievement and impact
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