*NDMA team concludes assessment, to submit report shortly
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 15: Fresh tremors of moderate intensity shook the Doda and Kishtwar districts on the intervening night of May 14 and 15 forcing people to come out of their houses and have sleepless night in open areas while as a 61-year old woman died of heart attack while fleeing from the house during the earthquake at Soti hamlet near the native village of Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad. The fresh tremors further aggravated the damages to the Government as well as private infrastructure in these districts.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) team concluded assessment of damages to the residential as well as Government buildings and will shortly submit report and recommendations to its Vice-Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy so that State Government and people of erstwhile Doda district could be properly guided for reconstructing the damaged infrastructure.
Reports said that earthquake of 5.3 magnitude shook the Doda and Kishtwar districts at 1.30 am leading to panic among the people, who immediately rushed out of their houses. Within minutes majority of the houses particularly in Doda district and in some parts of Kishtwar wore deserted look and streams of people were seen in the open areas of their respective localities.
Before the people could come out of the shock of first tremor three-four aftershocks hit the Doda-Kishtwar belt after regular intervals prompting the people to spend sleepless night on the foot-paths and in the premises of temples and other religious places. A 61-year old woman Naseema Begum, wife of Ghulam Rasool died of heart-attack while fleeing from her house during earthquake at Soti hamlet near Bhalessa. She was taken to a hospital where she was declared as brought dead by the doctors.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department, today’s earthquake was the 11th of moderate intensity since May 1, when the tremors caused massive destruction in the erstwhile Doda district. On May 1, three earthquakes of 5.8, 3.7 and 4.6 magnitude respectively rocked the erstwhile Doda district followed by one of 3.9 magnitude on May 2. The epicenter of these four major earthquakes was J&K-Himachal Pradesh border.
On May 3 and May 5, one earthquake each of 3.7 and 3.5 magnitude respectively hit Doda-Kishtwar belt and the epicenter was Kishtwar and Bhaderwah areas. On May 14, three earthquakes of magnitude ranging between 3.8 to 4.4 rocked Kishtwar and Doda districts. Their epicenter was J&K-HP Border and Kishtwar area.
“Nothing specific could be said as to when the light intensity aftershocks would come to an end”, IMD spokesman said, adding “besides these 11 earthquakes several low intensity aftershocks have also been experienced in the Doda-Kishtwar belt since May 1”. Reports said that tremors were also felt in Bani area of the Kathua district last night as a result of which majority of the people spent sleepless night in the open areas.
The fresh earthquake followed by several aftershocks aggravated the damages suffered by the Government as well as private infrastructure in Doda and Kishtwar districts and several structures have been rendered non-repairable.
Confirming that fresh tremors have aggravated the damages, District Development Commissioner, Doda, Mubarak Singh said, “the people in major parts of Doda district spent sleepless nights in open and other safe places. The fresh tremors have also increased the demand for tents from various parts of the district”, adding “as it is not possible to provide tents to each family, we have decided to pitch in large tents in those mohallas and localities where the situation in grave so that people could make use of the same. This has also been suggested by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad”.
In response to a question, the DDC said, “around 30 such tents have been pitched in Doda town and 20 in Bhaderwah town. These tents are in addition to those which have already been given to the affected families”, adding “the large size tents will remain pitched till the situation demands”.
Meanwhile, the NDMA team consisting of Prof C V Murty from IIT Chennai, Prof Pardeep Kumar from Department of Civil Engineering IIT Hyderabad, A K Jain, Under Secretary NDMA, Hari Kumar, President Geo-Hazard Society, Ajay Chaurasia, President Scientist CSIR, Central Building Research Institute Roorki and Anoop Kumar, Director Keranth EVK Specialist, New Delhi, concluded assessment of extent of damage in residential as well as Government buildings and will shortly submit report to the Vice-Chairman, M Shashidhar Reddy.
The team, which visited almost all the earthquake affected areas, returned to Union Capital this afternoon and their recommendations would be of immense help in guiding the Government as well as people in reconstructing the damaged infrastructure by using earthquake-resistant technology.
According to the sources, the team has noticed that the damages were more primarily because of non-adherence to the advise on adoption of quake-resistant technology. “The team, in its report, will suggest latest version of technology being used in the construction activities in earthquake prone areas in other parts of the country so that the same could be adopted in rebuilding damaged infrastructure in erstwhile Doda district”, sources added.
Follow our WhatsApp channel