It is difficult to predict the time and place where a natural calamity would strike. Despite much advancement in science and technology, man’s battle with nature remains inconclusive. Nothing matches the fury of the nature while at the same time nothing matches the benevolence of nature. The history of mankind is replete with harrowing incidents of natural calamities washing away cities, communities and structures. Civilizations have come up and civilizations have been destroyed leaving behind not a shade of existence. That is what makes us think about the yugas or the ages in our mythology.
This notwithstanding, human search for knowledge of their why and how of natural calamities remains unsuppressed. We have developed meteorology and seismography sciences which deal with the monitoring of changes in natural phenomenon. We cannot say that these sciences are fully and finally developed so as not to miss a single event of disaster. They have limitations and that has to be accepted.
The history of Jammu and Kashmir often speaks of earthquakes and floods, two prominent vagaries of nature. The spread of epidemics is of lesser level in the state though that too falls within the limits of disaster management system of the State. Not to go far away in the past as early as 2005 the parts of State were struck by a terrible earthquake of which the epicenter was somewhere in the Hazara ranges of mountains in PoK. So many innocent lives were lost in that earthquake. The second incident was of floods in the Valley and parts of Jammu in 2014. The impact of these floods and the earthquake of 2005 are still to be seen and felt. In both instances, the incompetence of State Disaster Management Authority was brought out to the public domain. The officials of the SDMA then told the media that the agency was starved of funding and lacked experience of handling disasters. In the case of floods of 2014, the SDMA team was to be seen nowhere. The fact is that the State Government and Disaster Management Authority should have taken full view of the global situation and taken a strong decision at the top most level regarding the upgrading entire mechanism of disaster management in the State in the event when disasters take place.
A new element has recently been added to our fears of disaster. The scientists of Oregan University have found that the Reasi fault has been building up pressure for some time and when it does release or slip the resulting earthquake may be large as much as magnitude of 8.0 or greater. This report has sounded the warning bell for the State Government and the people of the region and we have to see how much preparedness is there among the Government circles to meet the challenge. If we take the study as valid, we should have no difficulty in surmising the havoc which a level of 8 on Richter scale type earthquake is likely to spell out. The question is whether we are prepared to meet the challenge? It is no use just brushing aside the issue as hypothetical. That itself is the first stage of disaster.
The warning issued by the America experts has caused much concern to the Governor of the State who has sent a communication to the Chief Minister dealing fully with the threat of a possible disaster caused by a terrible earthquake as anticipated by the American expert team. In his letter, the Governor has spoken at length about the basic principles of safety which need to be observed strictly by various departments like Housing, Planning, R&B, Transport etc. He has also touched on the aspect of public awareness among the people of how to conduct their selves in the event of an earthquake. The Governor has impressed upon the Chief Minister to ensure that public structures of vital importance like universities, colleges, schools, hospitals, railway stations etc. are given clearance by the State Disaster Management Authority. He has also made many valuable suggestions that should be taken into consideration because a long term planning needs to be done to meet the threats.
Unfortunately after the 2014 floods in the valley, the State Disaster Management Authority got fully exposed to public criticism because it failed to come forward with any plan or action to help people meet the threat of floods. Thus the Centre asked the State Government to have a permanent disaster management plan to cope with situation of flood, fire and earthquake. Thus a plan was formulated and presented to the Government. However, this was only eyewash because many recommendations made in the plan have not been implemented. The plan remains collecting dust. For example, in the Disaster Management Plan enough thrust has been laid on establishment of Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) in all the districts of Jammu and Kashmir as these centres play an important role in effectively and efficiently coordinating multi-agency, inter-Governmental responses to disaster events. These centres not only assemble resources for an incident scene but also command responsibilities associated with it. No full fledged Emergency Operation Centre has been incepted so far.
We do not find any sign of Government functionaries or the municipal authorities intervening in the affair of raising new constructions without proper permission from concerned authorities and opinion of seismic experts. Raising of unplanned structures is a big curse which the municipal bodies have not been able to prevent so far.
Unfortunately even the Geology and Mining Department, which was supposed to carry out activity with regard to delineation of earthquake and landslide zones and establish seismological network with stakeholders and apply sensing technologies for monitoring landslide movements, has not come out of the deep slumber till date.
We would like to impress upon the State Government to take full note of the warning issued by a body of experts, and make necessary precautions in advance to help the needy and the destitute. A member of the National Disaster Management Authority also met with the Chief Minister and conveyed to her the seriousness of having the disaster management units in place in the State. He also emphasized on the CM to take the warning of the American experts seriously.
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