The Uttarakhand Government is moving towards faciliting a better and State-wide system for providing an early warning system against earthquakes. The State has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee as part of which the institute will expand the network of seismographs already installed in the Garhwal region to the Kumaon region.
The State Disaster Management Additional Secretary Savin Bansal said that the IIT has already set up about 80 to 85 seismographs in the Garhwal region.
The information about the seismic activity collected through the seismographs is monitored at present. However, with the signing of an MoU with IIT the network of seismographs is also slated to be installed in the Kumaon region. After this, the information collected through the network of seismographs across the State will also be put to use in creation of an early warning system. At present the information collected through existing seismographs is monitored but not related to the public.
But after the network is established in the Kumaon region too, the information will also be broadcast to the public through loudspeakers as part of an early warning system against earthquakes.
The Additional Secretary further informed that the early warning system will help the people and institutions receive critical seconds before the seismic event. The time of the warning will depend on the distance of the area from the epicentre of the earthquake. The places near the epicentre might receive a warning of about five to 10 seconds while places further away from the epicentre may receive upto 50 seconds advance warning. These critical seconds before an earthquake strikes can mean the differene between life and death as this time can also be used by the people to either evacuate a building or reach safer location.
It is pertinent to mention here that most parts of Uttarakhand are highly vulnerable to earthquakes and situated in in seismic zones IV and V with the State capital Dehradun coming under zone IV.
When it comes to the situation in the State from the seismic point of view, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts fall in seismic zone V with Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Champawat and Almora districts falling partially under zone V. Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Haridwar districts fall under zone IV.