Within a span of seven months, the National Capital Region has been shaken twice due to earthquakes in the neighbouring countries, but the Gurgaon administration seems to have failed to learn its lesson.
Despite warnings by experts after the Nepal earthquake in April, no serious efforts have been made towards ensuring the safety of the common man and making buildings earthquake-resistant in the Millennium City.
Sources in the local administration told The Hindu that no concrete efforts were made, except training for over a hundred structural engineers at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) four months ago and a multi-hazard mock drill exercise earlier this month.
Conceding that the level of preparedness may not be at par with global standards, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner T.L. Satyaprakash said there was a sense of growing awareness among the masses.
“We have been holding meetings, awareness camps and strengthening the Civil Defence Force over the past few months. It cannot happen overnight, but we headed in the right direction,” said Mr. Satyaprakash.
The Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner claimed that more than 50 per cent buildings in Gurgaon were earthquake-resistant.
“Mostly buildings that came up before 2006 are not earthquake-resistant. Many basements had developed cracks due to the earthquake six months ago, but the owners of these buildings are hiring experts for retro-fitting,” added Mr. Satyaprakash.
The entire Gurgaon region falls in high risk seismic zone IV, making it highly vulnerable to earthquakes. The major tectonics features affecting Gurgaon are the Sohna fault, junction of Aravali and alluvium near Delhi, Moradabad fault, Delhi-Moradabad fault and Delhi-Haridwar fault.
Ironically, it is in Gurgaon and neighbouring areas of Manesar and Sohna that a large number of high-rises have come up in the past one decade. According to an estimate, Gurgaon alone has more than 1,000 high-rises.
Speaking to The Hindu , HIPA Centre for Disaster Management Head Abhay Shrivastava said there were two aspects to safety in the wake of an earthquake — the safety of human life and that of buildings.
“Any earthquake in the Himalayan foothills will have an impact on the National Capital Region, and therefore there is a great need for all us to be prepared. But little has been done in this direction so far in Gurgaon. The most urgent need is to ensure implementation of the national building bye-laws in this connection,” said Dr. Shrivastava.
He strongly advocated the need for constitution of a technical committee under the District Disaster Management Authority to pass and supervise building plans to ensure implementation of building bye-laws. He also suggested the need for micro-zonation of land for planned development.
“As of now, the building of different categories like commercial, industrial and residential have come up without any plan. It is all haphazard. There is a need for micro-zonation for planned development,” said Dr. Shrivastava.
He also stressed the need for audit of buildings and upgrading existing structures with retro-fittings.
