Worrying Natural Disaster Preparedness

Kashmir valley is known as paradise of earth on account of its unmatchable natural beauty .The lush green meadows, gorgeous mountains, streams, rivers in full flow and beautiful gardens define the great beauty of Kashmir. But, Kashmir is also a disaster- prone zone owing to its tough geographical terrain and unique topography.

What is worrying is that considering the ground level preparedness we do not seem to have desired level of efficiency in dealing with natural disasters both in terms of infrastructure and trained human resource.

Recently, Scientists have found that the Reasi fault near Jammu has been building up pressure for some time, suggesting that when it does release or “slip”, the resulting earthquake may be large — as much as magnitude 8.0 or greater.

 

Scientists started looking at this fault more closely following the 7.6-magnitude earthquake in 2005 on the nearby Balakot-Bagh fault in the Pakistan side of Kashmir, which was not considered particularly dangerous because it wasn’t on the plate boundary. The 2005 Kashmir earthquake killed about 80,000 people in Pakistan and India.

On the otherhand, our disaster management preparedness was also taken off guard in the 2014 floods and we were just saved by matter of luck.

The onus is on new government to look into this all important aspect and give full thrust on capacity building with reference to effective disaster management.