Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 13: Under the aegis of Amrit Kaal Trans-Disciplinary Lecture Series, Padma Shri Dr Harsh K Gupta, NASI Platinum Jubilee Fellow and President, Geological Society of India, delivered a lecture on “Developing an Earthquake Resilient Society”, here today at Jammu University.
Dr Gupta underlined that the best way to make society aware of the risks of earthquakes is to simulate real-world scenarios of a major earthquake that had struck the same region in the past. “Understanding the consequences of large-scale scenarios such as estimating the possible number of lives that will be lost and the number of injuries, conducting mega mock drills in those areas, school sensitisation programmes and strengthening of lifeline buildings are the major components of such a simulation,” he added
Dr Gupta said that aftershocks after a major earthquake pose a significant risk to already damaged structures and rescue efforts. “My research work has estimated that aftershocks of more than magnitude 5 could occur for around 300 days after the initial main shock,” he said and relayed that it was explicitly seen that before 1958, when biggest tremor in India had taken place at Assam, earthquakes affected a relatively smaller population. But post-2000, he added, the significant rise in population has put a larger population at risk of earthquake-related hazards.
Prof Umesh Rai, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu, in his presidential address, enumerated the immense contributions of Dr Harsh K Gupta in the field of seismology. He further said that more and more awareness needs to be created in this regard.
Prof Rajni Kant, Dean Research Studies, JU, commended the efforts by the Vice-Chancellor for frequently holding important talks, lectures and seminars.
In the introductory remarks, Prof Sundeep K Pandita, Director, HRDC stressed the need for earthquake awareness in light of the recent devastating earthquake that struck the Turkiye-Syria border and those occurred in J&K in the last two decades.
Dr Anil Gupta, Associate Dean, Students Welfare, delivered a formal vote of thanks while Ifra Kak, Cultural Officer, conducted proceedings of the function.
Prominent among others, Prof Neelu Rohmetra, Director, Directorate of Distance Education; Prof Rajive Rattan, Director, CDC; Prof Neeru Sharma, Incharge Librarian; Prof Samridhi Arora, Head, Deptt of Home Sciences; Prof G M Bhat, Dr Bindra Thusu, Dr Dauood Iqbal Baba and Dr Imran Farooq were also present on the occasion.
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