Coping with earthquakes

Of all natural disasters, earthquakes are the most difficult to manage because they can be neither predicted nor prevented. As such, they do not give any opportunity for shifting people to safer areas. But that does not mean total helplessness in the face of this natural calamity.

The loss to lives and property can be minimised with the use of modern technology and advance preparedness. Equally, effective relief measures depend on the creation of the required infrastructure for dealing with sudden crises.

All this becomes even more important than before since the frequency of earthquakes seems to be increasing in this part of the world, as the Indian plate boundary is believed to have become very active.

The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the Himalayas on Saturday, and preceding quakes like the one that generated the killer tsunami waves and the 9.3 scale quake in Sumatra in December 2004, are said to be indicators of this enhanced sub-surface geological activity.

It is not that nothing has been done in terms of strategies for managing natural disasters, especially after the Bhuj (Gujarat) earthquake of January 2001; at least on paper, there has been a fair bit of action.

The new national disaster management policy moots several well-conceived measures, such as seismic micro-zoning of earthquake-prone areas, particularly major population clusters like Mumbai and Delhi; preparation of standards for building construction for different seismic zones; review of building bye-laws and their enforcement; retrofitting (interlocking of pillars, beams and boundary walls) of existing buildings, especially life-line infrastructure such as hospitals, police stations, government secretariats, schools and communication facilities; capacity building of architects and engineers in quake risk mitigation; and setting up of hazard safety cells in the states and the national disaster management authority at the Centre.

Though some progress has been made in these areas, systems are not yet in place to put this entire plan into practice. Much of the pre- and post-disaster action that was observed to be wanting at the time of the Bhuj earthquake was again in evidence in Jammu and Kashmir.

The rescue and relief operations, albeit round the clock, are constrained by the paucity of professionally trained search and rescue teams equipped with instruments to locate persons buried alive under the debris. Even the strength of the dog squads trained in spotting live bodies is inadequate.

Mobile hospitals stocked with adequate equipment and medicines are few in number, though the army's medical services have been pressed into action.

Moreover, the communication network that is vital for reducing the response time is wanting. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was reportedly unaware of the real magnitude of the tragedy several hours after it struck.

Thus, what is needed urgently is not just the removal of these lacunae but assertive action on disaster risk management. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is reported to have revised the building construction codes for different areas, taking into account their risk factors. These need to be enforced strictly in both urban and rural habitations.

An adequate disaster combat machinery needs to be put in place in the major cities, including Mumbai and Delhi, which fall in high seismic zones. It may be worth considering the creation of a network as extensive as that of the fire brigade to deal with the consequences of natural disasters.