YEAQ to celebrate humanitarian engineering in 2011
The Queensland branch of Young Engineers Australia (YEAQ) says 2011 will see it celebrate and promote humanitarian efforts in engineering.
New chair of the group, Jillian Kenny, said in what is the Year of Humanitarian Engineering, and after the devastating South East Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi, that this “is a year to take up the humanitarian challenge, to step outside our comfort zone and to make a contribution.”
Writing in the first edition of Engineering Queensland News for the year, Jillian wrote: “Catastrophic events reaffirm our focus on what is really important to people. They can provide the engineering profession with a real opportunity to investigate and upgrade standards in design and construction so that we can reduce the devastation caused by such events.”
However she warned it was not just when “catastrophe strikes” that people should “strive to be humanitarians”. She said “every day of every week of every year there are people without access to the most basic of human needs, such as drinking water, sanitation and electricity.
“As engineers, we have the technical and managerial capabilities to tackle these issues.”
To highlight the importance of humanitarian engineering, YEAQ has teamed up with the local chapter of Engineers Without Borders for the year. Throughout 2011 the two groups will co-host a variety of events to celebrate and promote humanitarian engineering.
For more information visit the Queensland Division website.
