Disaster preparedness in event of earthquake needs more push

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 9

A majority of Haryana districts are yet to wake up to disaster management in case of a major earthquake in the seismic zones. Despite tall claims, only a few districts seem to be on track to tackle the threat posed by such a calamity. A realty check in this regard was done by The Tribune reporters:

Karnal: With the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has started work on the updation of the district disaster management plan (DDMP) 2023-24. The DDMA officials claimed that their DDMP-2022-23 was already updated and they had started work to update the next year plan.

“Being situated around 200 km from the central seismic gap of Himalayas, Karnal district is among the earthquake vulnerable districts of the state. A team of the NDRF will visit the district from February 13 to 25 to spread awareness about different disasters,” said Shabad Dayal, project officer, DDMA, Karnal.

Gurugram: Lying on seven fault seismic lines, Gurugram is the riskiest area in Delhi-NCR. The city, which houses the highest number of high-rises in the NCR, has continued to feel tremors and aftershocks. The city has around 2,000 registered high-rise buildings, but still awaits long-promised earthquake audits.

Following the Chintels collapse last year, the local administration ordered the structural audit of around 16 societies and earthquake resistance was one of parameters, but nothing much has been done for many others. There has been no dedicated audit to check the compliance of the Indian Building Code.

Jhajjar/Rewari: No special committee to deal with an earthquake has been formed in Jhajjar, Rewari and Mahendragarh districts despite being part of a sensitive zone.

A disaster management committee has been constituted in every district for the management of any sort of disaster. Interestingly, mock drills are conducted as part of preparedness to deal with the situation of flood and fire, but no such exercise is carried out for earthquakes. Ashok Garg, DC, Rewari, admitted that no mock drill dedicated to earthquake had been carried out in the district in the past several months.

Faridabad: The city continues to be in the high-risk seismic zone as the NCR belt is located near three active seismic fault lines of Sohna, Mathura and Delhi-Moradabad. Seismologists say since Delhi-NCR is close to the Himalayas, it is felt that the changes in the tectonic plates may result in seismic activity in the Himalayan belt and the Delhi-NCR.

Sunil Harsana, an ecology activist, said uncontrolled construction activity in the city, especially in the Surajkund area of the Aravalli belt, had increased the risk in case of a quake in a very sensitive zone.

Rohtak: Rohtak district falls in Seismic Zones III and IV. The district witnessed more than 10 earthquakes in a span of few weeks during April-May 2020. No tremors have been reported from the district in the past six months, says Saurabh Dhiman, district project officer (Disaster Management).

Panipat: “Aapda Mitra” (disaster friends), a group of trained youths of the NCC, numbering 103, had been trained to tackle any emergency in Sonepat district so far, Vineet Kadyan, programme manager for disaster management in Sonepat and Panipat said.

Many districts in High Damage Risk Zone

• Ambala, Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Faridabad, Gurugram, Palwal, Nuh, Rewari, Part of Mahendragarh, Jhajjar, and part of Rohtak, Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal, and Kurukshetra fall in High Damage Risk Zone (Zone IV)
• Prominent tectonic features in Haryana are Sohna fault, Aravali fault, Hidden Moradabad fault, Sonepat-Delhi-Sohna fault, Junction of Aravali and Sohna fault, and Delhi-Haridwar ridge
• Uncontrolled construction activity in the city and Surajkund area of the Aravalli belt, increases the risk of loss of life and property in case of an earthquake

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