Living through earthquakes

Living through earthquakes

source: The Hindu
Comment (5) · print · T+ As a natural calamity, powerful earthquakes are in a class of their own, able to strike without warning and capable of creating widespread devastation. So it was with the magnitude 6.8 temblor that struck near the Sikkim-Nepal border on Sunday evening. At least 66 people have been killed and many more injured in India as well as in neighbouring Nepal and Tibet, China. Buildings and roads in Sikkim have been badly damaged. Reports from Tibet speak of landslides disrupting traffic, power, and water supplies. Rain and landslides have hampered relief efforts, and the central government has sent in military and paramilitary units, along with aircraft and helicopters, to help the civilian authorities. Tremors from the quake, which could be felt hundreds of kilometres away, caused panic in many cities, including Kolkata, Patna, and Lucknow. In Delhi, which experienced a magnitude 4.2 earthquake near the Haryana border earlier this month, the latest episode left many with jangled nerves.

This quake should serve as a wake-up call. Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do, goes the old adage. But human-made structures — buildings, bridges, power plants and so forth — can be designed and constructed to withstand the sort of quakes that might hit a place. An earthquake quickly exposes failures in construction. Valuable infrastructure is destroyed and falling masonry can crush people to death. “In recent earthquakes, buildings have acted as weapons of mass destruction,” remarked one leading seismologist after the calamitous quake that hit the Caribbean island of Haiti in January 2010, killing tens of thousands of people. Poor quality construction on the island made the earthquake twice as lethal as any previous magnitude 7.0 event. As the crustal plate bearing India steadily pushes against the Eurasian plate, some experts fear that enough stress might have accumulated to unleash a great earthquake in parts of the Himalayas. Such a quake could have disastrous consequences across the highly populated Gangetic plain. Nor are places away from the plate boundary necessarily safe. The powerful quake at Bhuj in January 2001, for instance, claimed thousands of lives and caused havoc across a considerable area in Gujarat. Safety lies in ensuring quake-resistant construction. The Bureau of Indian Standards has laid out earthquake engineering codes for various structures. In addition, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the Union Government's Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council have published guidelines and brochures on quake-safe construction. Turning a blind eye to such safety requirements will extract a heavy toll when an earthquake strikes.

Keywords: earthquake, natural calamity

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Comments:
It is no denying fact that earthquakes are not solely responsible for life and property destruction, but tells what lacked in the safety of various contructions whether it is a house or a bridge. What the BIS is doing is to set up certain construction norms which could hold the constructions during earthquakes and also there are initiatives from the government in this direction but the emphasis should be given from the common man while they construct houses in areas specifically that are in the chances of being hit by tremors. So we should take some resposibility on our own because our mistakes will affect not only us but our surroundings. Its a task ahead for engineers to take up the need of the hour and build strong and sustainable structures.

from: Md Nadeem
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 01:32 IST
Everyone endures for safety and they rightly feel so in their home, but in reality we are not safe anywhere, anytime. Every natural calamity exposes we are at the mercy of the real indisputable, unconquered, invisible messiah. Be honest to yourself and to your countrymen, he is alongside you to shield you from every untoward incident. Every now and then it strike with such brutal force that every human achievements, science advancement, technology developed till date looks derisory. Nothing can be done to tame the unleashing havoc once the imaginary pious vessel is brimming with sin, it goanna spill mayhem some or other day like the previous day. But we optimistic humans will start afresh, cautious enough not to repeat the same mistake and will think they can withstand the calamitous force next time but we mortal tends to forget one thing. "To err is human".

from: kush
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 01:47 IST
Earthquakes examine our tendency and immediate reaction to natural calamities.Since man is the son of mother nature, he seems to be puny when she is angry.Since quakes can't be prevented artificially , the only way out is spreading awareness regarding disaster management about earthquakes at district,state and national levels.

from: Saurabh Shubham
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 07:10 IST
People don't follow guidelines because of two reasons: 1) Lack of proper auditing on the high rise buildings, Even if there are auditors they get bribed and they don't do their job properly. 2) The additional cost factor of the materials needed to make earthquake resistant buildings. The first one can be handled if we make stronger laws to punish those who indulge in these activities. The second factor can be overcome if there is more competition in the market leading to a drop in prices.

from: Arun
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 07:20 IST
It's the need of the hour to understand the powerful nature.and make sure that what ever infrastructure we develop it must be kept in find about earth quake and tsunami

from: Gopal shah
Posted on: Sep 20, 2011 at 08:16 IST