Auditing disaster preparedness

It is a matter of grave concern that 4970 school buildings in Assam are unsafe and are awaiting repair or retrofitting since 2017. This newspaper reported in its Friday's edition that an assessment survey of safety features in structural design of 29 per cent of 16,524 schools in the state do not conform to the safety norms required to withstand natural calamities such as earthquakes. No compromise can be made in providing a safe and secure environment for children to receive education. Wednesday's powerful earthquake of 6.4 magnitude and at least 20 aftershocks is a wake-up call for authorities concerned to assess safety of every government and private buildings including educational institutions. It is hoped that the Assam State Disaster Management Authority will impress upon all Deputy Commissioners to make comprehensive assessment of safety norms of all public and private buildings in their respective jurisdiction and initiate corrective measures to make them earthquake and other disaster-resistant and safe. The assessment findings should be made public to keep all stakeholders informed to enable them to take adequate precaution. It will also help policy makers prioritise the actions required to be taken based on the assessments. Distribution of scooters or motorbikes to students must not be given priority over safety of buildings of educational institutions. Prominent display of information about the safety status of a public or private building will make them aware of the precautions required to be taken to stay safe in the event any such building is found to be unsafe and requires repair or retrofitting. Display of declaration with ASDMA certification of any public or private building if it has been constructed by following all prescribed building safety codes of design and construction for earthquake will have double benefits. It will keep reminding users, occupants, and visitors of such buildings that these have been built keeping in mind that the region is an earthquake-prone zone V and instead of panicking they only need to follow the tips given by ASDMA to stay safe. There is an agreement among seismologists that Assam Type Houses are comparatively safe from the aspect of earthquake resistance. Most of the government buildings such as schools or colleges, government offices, public health centres in most rural areas and even in some towns were built following Assam Type design and architecture. The new trend of constructing multi-storeyed RCC buildings in Guwahati city and some towns can be attributed to increasing population pressure on account migration from rural areas resulting in dearth of space. Steps must be taken to ensure that agricultural activities remain remunerative to prevent outmigration of distressed farm families. Creation of employment opportunities in villages will also stop migration of rural youth. Flood and erosion also trigger outmigration from rural areas. The vertical growth of the capital city and other towns amplify the earthquake damage risks. In order to prevent the city and other towns overgrowing vertically, rural growth centres must be promoted so that earthquake-resistant design and architecture can be enforced as mandatory design norm for all public and private buildings in the state. Once the growth of the city and towns is controlled through adoption of pragmatic economic policies and programmes, the advancement in structural engineering can be effectively applied to improve upon building safety codes, design, and architecture to conform to earthquake safety norms. Ensuring the flood embankments remain safe during earthquake also needs immediate attention. The State government has been apprising the Central government that 90 per cent of 423 embankments have outlived their spans and are prone frequent breaches. An earthquake of higher magnitude occurring during high flood season will have cascading impact. Strengthening of these embankments and not just repair of the breaches will require huge funding which may not be possible for resource-crunch state like Assam. The Central government must shoulder the responsibility to strengthen all embankments in the state so that in the event of outbreak of multi-disaster situation of high flood, earthquake, and pandemic the damage to lives, properties and standing crop can be minimised. The state enhancing its capacity to better utilise disaster management fund is critical to ensuring increasing fund from the Central government for disaster risk mitigation. As COVID-19 infections are spiralling in the state, adequate precautionary measures need to be put in place well ahead of impending flood season. No breaches in any of the embankments can be left to be repaired. Mapping of shelter places including high-rise platforms will be crucial to plan rescue operations in COVID-19 pandemic situations. The relief camps sheltering flood-hit people need to be COVID-safe. Assam needs more boat hospitals and water ambulances to provide necessary health services to flood-affected people. Expediting full vaccinations of people in flood-prone areas will ease pressure on the health systems in the event of a high flood situation.