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60% of India is prone to quake
60% of India is prone to quake. About 60 per cent of the geographical area in India is prone to earthquakes in India and the Himalayan region, which falls under seismic zone is most vulnerable followed by New Delhi according to former NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy.
Former NDMA chief Shashidhar Reddy bats for use of Japanese techniques in construction activity
Hyderabad: About 60 per cent of the geographical area in India is prone to earthquakes in India and the Himalayan region, which falls under seismic zone is most vulnerable followed by New Delhi according to former NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy.
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Talking to The Hans India Reddy said India needs to adopt Japanese techniques in construction of buildings, schools and administrative structures. He said most of the victims in Bhuj tragedy in Gujarat in 2001 were school children. The reason was structures of the school buildings were not quake- resistant.
Reddy said according to a study conducted by the NDMA it is estimated that the death toll would go up to 10 lakh if quake with a magnitude of 8 on Richter scale struck the Himalyan region. He said Delhi, which comes under seismic zone four, and North East region, in zone three, were put in second and third most vulnerable areas after Himalayan region.
Referring to the earthquake in Nepal, he said the main reason for huge human loss in the vulnerable zone was the collapse of improperly designed and rickety buildings. He said, since there was no early warning system to predict the tremors, the only option before the governments was to enhance preparedness and face the very challenging disaster.
“The World Bank report says investment of one dollar in disaster preparedness would save 20 dollars in the reconstruction,” he added. Prevention, preparedness and mitigation would only minimise the human loss in the quake-prone areas.
The NDMA launched National Earthquake Risk Mitigation Project (NREMP) covering 22 high seismic risk states and union territories in the country. The project was envisaged to provide training to masons in earthquake resistant construction.
Besides, assistance would be provided under this Project to the state governments to put in place an appropriate techno-legal regime. He stressed the need to continue the preparedness by the NDMA and affiliated organisations to prevent huge loss whenever earthquake struck the nation.
The earthquake in Nepal and the trail of devastation had left behind should be an eye-opener to the central and state governments particularly the states which fall under the seismic zones. They should take immediate measures to ensure that all the new structures were quake-proof. It requires administrative and political willingness, Reddy felt.
By Patan Afzal Babu
