*Infrastructure rebuild after Sept 2014 vulnerable to earthquakes
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 8: Though Disaster Management Act lays enough thrust on capacity building and public awareness for managing disasters yet J&K Government preferred to lose huge financial assistance instead of utilizing the same for the intended objectives. Moreover, no serious attention has been paid towards ensuring compliance to earthquake resistant designs and establishment of Emergency Operation Centres.
The Disaster Management Act, 2005 envisages promoting general education, awareness and capacity training about disasters and building capacity to combat disasters as an important pre-disaster activity. Moreover, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prescribed by Government of India envisage mock drills by search and rescue teams at State level to test their preparedness.
Keeping all this in mind, the Government of India allocated Rs 20 crore for the purpose of building capacity such as procurement of equipment for rescue and relief, establishment of early warning system in the district headquarters, creation of public awareness for pre-disaster preparedness and for imparting training to various stakeholders.
Of this, an amount of Rs 12 crore was released by Government of India to J&K Government. However, the State could utilize only Rs 1.79 crore as a result of which balance funds of Rs 8 crore were not released by the Union Government, said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its latest report, adding “even Rs 10.21 crore released amount remained unutilized as a result of which objectives of SOPs could not be unfulfilled”.
Similarly, out of Rs 6.02 crore released for pre-disaster management activities, an amount of Rs 29 lakh was utilized within the stipulated time-frame as a result of which balance amount of Rs 5.73 crore had to be surrendered by the State Government to the Government of India. Moreover, an amount of Rs 32 lakh released through sanction to the Technical Education Department for skill up-gradation of workers had not been utilized.
“Even an amount of Rs 25.24 lakh provided by Government of India for capacity building for disaster management was spent by the Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Department on procurement of vehicles, which otherwise is not covered under guidelines”, the report said.
While chapter on disaster management had been included in the academic curriculum by the State Board of School Education and certain initiatives had been taken, no steps were taken to increase public awareness about risk mitigation strategies and mock drills were not organized for any type of calamity/disaster to sensitize the relief machinery as preparedness measures were not reflected in the annual reports submitted to the Government of India.
About incorporation of earthquake resistant designs in Building Codes, the report said that while earthquake-resistant designs had been adopted for construction of office buildings, bridges etc these had not been made mandatory for private buildings. “Disaster resistant designs and retrofitting techniques had not been ensured in re-construction of houses which were fully or severely damaged during the floods of September 2014 for which relief was provided by the Government as such these constructions remained vulnerable to earthquakes in seismic sensitive zones”, the report added.
The State Disaster Management Plan envisages that a mechanism should be in place to receive forecasting and early warning from agencies such as Indian Meteorological Department and Snow and Avalanches Study Establishment. However, despite release of Rs 20 lakh the mechanism for early warning systems had not been established and funds were surrendered.
Similarly, State Disaster Management Plan envisages establishment of Emergency Operation Centres in each district for quick response and effective decision-making during emergencies. For the establishment of EOCs in the districts of Jammu, Srinagar, Leh and Kargil in the first phase an amount of Rs 2 crore was earmarked by State Executive Committee. However, EOCs have not been established although the Minister for Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction has repeatedly been issuing directions in this regard.
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