With some parts of North India including Uttarakhand experiencing jolts of earthquake on Sunday, structural vulnerability is not less concerning for the Himalayan State, Uttarakhand, in case of occurrence of a high intensity tremor.
Mention worthy, the collapse of buildings and residential complexes is the key factor giving rise to loss of lives and properties post natural disaster like an earthquake.
Though the State Government claims to be prepared to meet any disaster like situation, little seems to be done on part of it to ensure compliance of disaster safety norms in all public buildings and residential complexes in Uttarakhand.
According to the Vulnerability Atlas of India, as the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) mentioned in its report, around 56 per cent houses in Uttarakhand are constructed using mud, un-burnt bricks and stone walls.
More so, according to the disaster management survey, there are about 400 buildings only in Nainital which had been identified as highly sensitive from natural disaster point of view. But nothing has been done to make all the said buildings quake-resistant. Worse, the matter of concern is that illegal construction activities are going on unabated in Nainital.
That only highlights structural vulnerability of the built environment, particularly to seismic tremors to which the State is highly vulnerable, as the experts here suggest.
The fact of the matter is that the buildings are still traditionally constructed in villages in remote parts of the Himalayan State using locally available stone, mud and timber.
Although with the passage of time, people have also started constructing houses with brick, cement and available modern building material, yet proper care is not taken to make these human habitations natural disaster safe or quake resistant, as the experts here believe.
As per the State disaster management plan report, the State falls in either Zone IV or Zone V of Earthquake Zonation Map of India. Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts together with some areas of Almora, Champawat, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Pauri district fall in Zone V, while Udhamsingh Nagar, Nainital, Haridwar and Dehradun districts fall fully in Zone IV.
Though quakes of low intensity occurred in some parts of the region like Nainial, Ramnagar, to name a few on Sundy as has been reported, no untoward incident took place due to this natural disaster. However, a teacher and student received minor injuries in Kashipur when a ceiling fan fell in a school due to a tremor on Saturday.