Our Constructed Surroundings Ought to Safe Us From Earthquake Disasters – Kashmir Observer

As we are saying goodbye to 2013, it’s a useful studying expertise to discover what we now have achieved and what must be achieved to make the Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh areas hazard-resilient societies. The earthquake and flood hazards stay key challenges to handle, rooted within the structural setting of our area linked to the tectonic plate interactions between the lithospheric plates of India and Eurasia. The previous and present geological investigations recommend that the area is vulnerable to large-magnitude earthquakes that may devastate tens of millions of individuals, inhibiting the area. Subsequently, investing in constructing a way of safety and security from earthquake hazards is nice.

The a long time of essential scientific knowledge on understanding earthquake hazards and methods to reside in concord with them can’t be achieved and formed until there may be an consciousness in individuals’s minds and an internal urge and thirst in administration to make a change for good. The constructed space contains what people have created over centuries for survival and luxury and should be hazard-resilient; it consists of our buildings, roads, hospitals, faculties, and so forth. The constructed setting should be appropriately managed to enhance its resilience; in any other case, it may grow to be time bombs that explode and trigger hurt at a time once we want them to save lots of us, which is our nice problem sooner or later. Buildings are sometimes made to safe life from warmth, chilly, hazard, predators, and so forth., however, satirically, not from earthquake hazards, which is one thing least bothering our societies for unknown causes. I fail to know why.

I’ve been writing articles on earthquake hazards for greater than a decade now, as many different scientists and researchers do, and most of it’s revealed by Kashmir Observer, which has taken a number one function in disseminating scientific data important for the safety and security of our societies from hazards, particularly, earthquakes and floods. But, every time I go to India, I fail to know why our buildings don’t comply with the usual earthquake security constructing procedures and practices that can save lives throughout earthquakes. I’ve been posing this query to myself and discussing it with a number of scientists, college students, and folks in Kashmir, which made me conclude that the modifications are troublesome to make however aren’t unimaginable. The mindset shouldn’t be able to leap in the direction of a brand new constructing observe the place some earlier social norms could should be deserted for good. For instance, they embrace well-trained architects and engineers from among the greatest institutes on this planet to interchange the prevailing ones, who’re regionally educated, and most of them aren’t even formally educated at universities, and so forth. For instance, a lot of the residential buildings I’ve witnessed in Anantnag, the place I come from, are designed and constructed by native architects and different engineers, who’ve typically not been educated in a proper engineering establishment. It’s a large downside, and the present norm ought to get replaced by skilled engineering design and building.

The federal government should undertake a decision to fastidiously monitor the competence of engineering design and building patterns to permit systematic alternative procedures for the higher good. The lately concluded 6^th World Congress on Catastrophe Administration (WCDM) in Dehradun additionally acknowledged the necessity to change the prevailing practices for good. The world’s scientific group and folks from numerous backgrounds emphasised the necessity to reevaluate the prevailing norms in preparation for a greater future to successfully fight the dangers posed by hazards.

Our areas are inclined to numerous hazards, and earthquakes are essentially the most harmful due to their unpredictable nature, which provides us sleepless nights. Subsequently, it’s good for our societies to work on a decision to make the incoming yr a swift leap in the direction of preparedness and making our environment an abode of peace. We are able to do it; it prices what is definitely reasonably priced to many and attainable for others with the assistance of presidency and personal companies. We should begin to navigate the route of hazard preparedness and catastrophe resilience within the constructed setting for the higher of our areas, and to perform this huge job; the federal government should play a important function by monitoring, facilitating, and rebuilding the infrastructure within the area.

Views expressed within the article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially symbolize the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer 

• The writer is a Nationwide Geographic Explorer and Sr. Assistant Professor,  Structural Geology

Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now

CLICK FOR DETAILS