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By Albert Thyrniang The finishing touch to this write up was done from Barik as we moved inch by inch at snail pace to Don Bosco Square at prime time. It took almost one hour to cover a distance of one kilometer or so. Well the subject of this 1000 word odd essay is not about the traffic bottle neck in the State capital. It is about a natural disaster and not this man made unsolved and persistent menace. As we are all aware, Nepal is in ruins. It is devastated, distraught, shattered and bereaved. The earthquake of April March 25, registering 7.9 on the Richter scale caused unimaginable destruction and loss of lives to the Himalayan nation. The number of the dead have been increasing by a 1000 every day. The toll has now crossed 5000. The injured, more than 8000 till date are yet to receive sufficient medical care. The scale of damage is massive. Though international assistance has poured in but the loss can never be compensated. The national catastrophe has destroyed history but has created another unwanted history. The worst affected, the capital city, Kathmandu lost its landmark temples and historic monuments. Among the ruined structures is the 19th century iconic nine-storey Dharahara Tower, declared by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Also known as Bhimsen Tower, the 61.88-metre-tall, originally built in 1832 and rebuilt after the 1934’s quake was the tourists’ favourite as its spiral staircase of 213 steps takes them to the circular balcony on its eighth floor providing them with an amazing panoramic view of the city. The proudest monument is completely erased. Photographs of Kathmandu’s architecture marvel before and after the quake sum up the 25/4’s gloomy story. The white tower that was topped with a bronze minaret, designed in Mughal and European style, became a burial ground. At least 180 bodies, of the 200 tourists trapped inside, have been retrieved from the rubble. Other buildings and houses, bridges and walls collapsed reducing them to debris. Terrifying images of these and the cracked roads and wreckage of vehicles on televisions, news papers, websites, online reports and social media tell it all. Local rescuers in Kathmandu were seen desperately digging through the rubble with their bare hands in search of survivors. The strong tremor, one of the worst in 50 years, has devastated the mountainous country in indescribable terms. The tens of thousands injured who are being treated inside and outside hospitals are in want of medicines and blood. The homeless who are in the cold outdoors are in need of food and water. The massive trail of destruction in the Himalayan nation is truly inexpressible. The international community was quick to offer immediate aid. The US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Norway, Israel and the European Union and others have all pledged humanitarian assistance. The immediate neighbouring country, India was prompt to send aircrafts, carrying medical supplies and a mobile hospital and a 40-strong disaster response team. Pakistan has sent similar equipments to join in the rescue and relief operations. The quake which had its epicentre at Lamjung, 110 km from Kathmandu also affected the North eastern parts of India. 70 people lost their lives West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh besides destruction to property. This time North East and Meghalaya were spared. Only a mild tremor was felt across the state. But will a 7.9 on the Richter scale earth quake hit the Seven Sisters in the future? If such a tremor shakes the region what would the casualties be and the kind of destruction in the cities like Guwahati, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Kohima, Imphal, Itanagar, Aizawl and Shillong, besides other towns and cities? These increasingly congested cities with concrete multi storied buildings could bury thousands of inhabitants alive in the debris if a fatal quake occurred. Quite scary! Let us talk about our own state. Meghalaya is located in the seismic belt categorised as zone 5 which is an earthquake prone area. Therefore, the deadly Nepal quake could shake Meghalaya any time from now. The science of seismology has not developed to a level that can foretell the exact date and intensity of an earth quake. No use blaming seismologists. The best is to share the Scouts’ and Guides’ motto, “Be prepared”. But how prepared are we should a killer quake strike us? Shillong’s high concrete government buildings commercial establishments, educational institutions, residential flats and even hospitals could be precarious. Smaller towns like Tura, Jowai, Nongstoin, Nongpoh also have structures of 3 to 4 storey. Even in rural areas there are school buildings over two storey high. Young kids of three years and below are in these building. Following the Nepal quake, top district officials claim they have conducted disaster management drills but they are comparatively rare and involve negligible number of people compared to the large dwellers in the structures pointed out above. Recently the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) have sealed twelve buildings following the High Court’s order to demolish additional floors as these were constructed illegally by their owners. These were judged to be unsafe in case of earthquakes and other natural calamities. Under the scanner for violating building bye-laws another 12 buildings were inspected by MUDA. As pointed out by the editorial, “Disaster preparedness” on April 27, MUDA’s jurisdiction is only within the Municipal areas. If we go beyond these areas there could be many illegal constructions. If inspection is done we may be in for rude shocks. Safety norms may be lacking or totally absent. There may not be even fire extinguishers. Let us return to the point of preparedness. Let me cite a past experience to drive home my point. Last year on 22nd September massive floods swept large parts of Garo Hills. There were not boats, no life saving jackets, no helicopters and no rescue teams. Survivors did so on their own. Relief came by too little and too shoddy. Now individuals, groups and institutions who suffered large scale losses are a forgotten lot. No compensation whatsoever. God forbid but should a Nepal quake hit the state will we be caught unawares too? Will there be rescue teams? Will we have enough rescue equipments and machineries for immediate action? Will there be enough space in our hospitals for the injured? Will be we able to deal with an aftermath to prevent outbreak of diseases? Or will be people be left to survive on their own similar to the Garo Hills flood last year? Lip service in stating than the Nepal quake is a wake-up call is meaningless. |
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