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Is India prepared to face natural calamities?

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Nowadays earthquake is occurring at regular intervals in almost every part of the world. Each year some region has to face the horrific face of destruction due to earthquake. Especially, in the last eight to ten years, the increase in seismic events is a big concern for the whole world and living beings. If we observe the statistics of last ten years i.e., from 2006 to 2015, we find that our earth has faced 392 big earthquakes in this particular period of time. All these are those big earthquakes which are measured between 6.5 to 9.0+ magnitude on the Richter scale. According to scientists, earthquakes of 6.5 to 9.0+ magnitude are undoubtedly capable to bring big destructions. In this case also the graph of 2016 looks very close and similar as compared to the last 10 years. The earth shook 30 times till now this year. But the shocking fact is that among these 30 earthquakes, 10 have occurred only in month of April.

On April 25 last year Nepal was hit by a devastating earthquake. Few months back South American country Ecuador had witnessed earthquake and recently New Zealand was affected through this calamity which is enough to tell us that in future if similar incidents occur then it will certainly be catastrophic for us. Primarily, to India and Himalayas, many geologists around the world on a number of occasions have predicted about the chances of higher magnitude seism in the Himalayan region. In this regard, not only Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir but also highly populated states of our country like Bihar and Delhi including neighbour countries like Nepal and Bhutan are in the danger zone. According to archaeologists, Himalayan region is still moving. There is always a collision between the plates under this region. One plate pushes the another and if a plate goes up than second one have to go down. It is a natural process. These stirs in Himalayas become the reason for landslide and earthquakes. Archaeologists also believe that Indian subcontinent is moving towards rest of Asia at a rate of two centimeter per year. The inner terrain of central Himalayan area cannot afford pressure of more than 13 centimetres’. Therefore, the energy consumed due to the pressure within the earth is now ready to come out bitterly and which can cause earthquake of about 9.0 magnitude at any time in Indian subcontinent and Himalayas. Seism witnessed last year in Nepal has proved this prediction right to some extent. But the question is, are we ready for that day when we again will see the holocaust similar to the one that occurred in Nepal? Is the technique of our disaster management so strong and developed that these earthquakes could be dealt in shortest time?

Nepal is smaller and backward country as compared to India. In such situation if the nation lacked enough resources to deal with the seism, then it is understandable. But if such calamity occurs in India and if we remain unprepared for it then there will be more causalities. Prior to 1991 and 2001 we have suffered big disaster precipitated by seism in Uttarkashi and Gujarat. But now we must wake up from sleep before it is too late. People need to remain alert during earthquake for rescuing their lives. Although we can’t put brake on disasters like earthquakes but its effects can be reduced. We just need to remain alert about it and create awareness among others.

Vivekanand V. Vimarya

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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