In the sub-basement of the University of Ottawa's civil engineering structure, a heavy thunk indicates the explosion of another car bomb.

Prof. Murat Saatcioglu along with two graduate students went down a flight of metal stairs to examine the harm.

The "shock tube", 11 meters in length and two meters in height, simulates the blast wave let loose by car bombs and other explosives.

The only one of its kind at a Canadian university, the shock tube permits scientists to check the susceptibility of building components to bomb damage. The objective is to recognize the kind of construction most at danger of collapse and devise ways to fortify it.

As a pioneer of the Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Management Research Centre, Prof. Murat Saatcioglu tries to defend structures, bridges and dams against volcanic activities, tsunamis and terrorist invasions.

The Turkish-born structural engineer has toured the world to observe the consequences of earthquakes and tsunamis, most recently in Chile.

His keenness in blast research came out of necessity after 9/11.

He says, "All of a sudden, blast-resistant construction was important, and very few people were doing research".

Saatcioglu took this field because he thought that there was likeness between the engineering challenges created by earthquakes and explosions.

He says that an engineer's work in both cases is to make a building in such a way that it has "ductility" and "continuity", qualities, which allow it to bend, not break into pieces, under pressure.