Recurring quakes shaking Delhi-NCR, along with other places in North and East India, have raised fear among people. It has now become clear that the ferocity and frequency of natural disasters in India and across the world are now greater than ever before. This makes us inquisitive and we often find people asking “is India really prepared for a natural disaster?”
Click here to read about the May 12 Nepal Earthquake.
The main natural disasters bothering the country are floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and cyclones. 70% of the area in India is prone to tsunamis and cyclones, 30% of the area is vulnerable to earthquakes and about 12% to floods.
Among these, earthquakes and tsunamis are the most disastrous ones as there is no warning or alert issued before their occurrence. People are caught unaware and sometimes a supposedly good night’s sleep turns into an eternal one. What makes it worse is the presence of a vast coastline in India.
Natural disasters bring shattering loss of lives and property, sometimes beyond repair. So are we learning anything from the history of calamities in India? Are we taking enough steps to save the lives?
In the recent past, during two earthquakes and their aftershocks, our governments had put in all the available resources to mitigate disaster impact and successfully carried out relief operations. But most of these responses were taken after the disaster.
Grey areas in India
It is said that earthquakes don't kill, it’s the poorly constructed buildings that kill. A lot can be done before the occurrence of natural calamity. Today we will look into the grey areas of our country.
Unplanned Developments
Devastated by the April 25 earthquake, Nepal was still battling with the trauma when a fresh earthquake measuring 7.3 on Richter scale hit the country on May 12. The small country has come down like a pack of cards, perhaps beyond repair.
The situation is equally dismal in India. Statistics indicates that 80% of the buildings in Delhi cannot stand a seismic quake. So does that mean that officials in India turn a blind eye to earthquake safety?
So what happened to the ambitious Rs. 24.87 crore venture of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)? It was called the National Earthquake Risk Mitigation Project. It was scheduled to be implemented over a period of two years (2013-15). Sadly enough, it has not taken off yet.
Under that project, the NDMA was supposed to retrofit the old buildings and make all the new ones disaster-resistant.
Planned urbanisation can save thousands of lives. Japan is the best example; a country which goes unaffected even after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake. (On May 13, an earthquake measuring 6.8 on Richter scale struck off the coast of northeastern Japan. Government authorities did not report any damage.)
Lack of Research
According to a report by the United Nations, India spends about 10 billion dollars every year for crisis management. Could we spend this sum of money for disaster management? There is no dearth of money in our country. Probably India should do more for research on seismology.
Poor equipment, communication and connectivity
Communication and connectivity enhancement have become the need of the hour. Satellite images do tell us about the affected areas during a calamity, but we need higher resolution images.
Overpopulation and Poverty
India comprises about 2 to 2.5% of the total area of the world but houses 17% of the total population. In India poverty also exacerbates the destruction and loss of lives during disasters.
Though the government agencies had predicted and issued timely warning in the Jammu and Kashmir (2014) and Uttarakhand (2013) floods, the awareness drives proved to be insignificant. This could be attributed to lack of communication and also because most of the people in India are still unaware of the safety measures supposed to be taken in case of such disaster. Moreover, the manpower in disaster management agencies are negligible when compared to the huge population of our country.
Earthquake in Delhi
It is no secret that Delhi, lying in seismic zone 4, is vulnerable to earthquakes and one of the most earthquake-prone cities in India.
But we are hardly prepared for an earthquake of moderate to high intensity. The city is suffocated with over 25 lakh buildings. Most of the buildings do not adhere to the safety code, nor have they been built under proper technical supervision.
Click to read about the dos and don'ts during an earthquake.
It is mandatory to get a certificate from a structural engineer, but today it stands just as a formality!
image credit - www.vegmomos.com
