"The number of collapsed buildings this time is less, and most are old houses that were built long before, " added Wang Ruheng, dean of the school of civil engineering and architecture at Southwest University of Science and Technology in the city of Mianyang, in Sichuan province.

WSJ: After China Quake, Efforts Turn to Recovery

Born on October 25, 1944 into a rural family where both parents were schoolteachers, Mr. Ren spent his primary and middle school years in a remote mountainous town in Guizhou Province, and studied at Chongqing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, where he graduated in 1963.

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Our ambition is to host an exceptional conference by mobilising also policy makers from different EU countries, institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, UNESCO, ICOMOS, CIPA, ISPRS, ICCROM, etc) and professionals as well as participants from all over the world and from different scientific areas of Cultural Heritage (Architecture, Civil Engineering, ICT, etc).

UNESCO: CYPRUS NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR UNESCO - 4th International Euro-Mediterranean Conference (EuroMed 2012)

Ratti is an Italian civil engineer and architect with a MPhil and PhD degree in architecture from the University of Cambridge.

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