SHILLONG: The earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale which jolted the city early Monday morning has once again raised serious concerns on how Shillong will bear the brunt of such high intensity earthquakes.
Despite various mock drills being conducted in the past, when the earthquake struck on Monday morning, there was not much activity on the part of disaster management units.
One of the environmentalists, Naba Bhattacharjee has decided to file a PIL in this regard with the High Court of Meghalaya to find out the responsiveness level of disaster management unit in the state.
“No activity was observed even after an hour of the tremor,” he said, while adding that it was an opportunity lost to gauge the preparedness and response quotient.
He said that going by the current situation of Meghalaya in this regard, the reaction time will be longer and the jolt was definitely a wakeup call for everyone.
On the other hand, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner and chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority P.S Dkhar said that there are standing orders that agencies like civil defence and home guards, fire services, ambulances and police have to reach the site at the earliest in case of casualties.
He also said that the disaster management team did visit a few buildings in the city on Monday to take stock of the situation even as he added that the team will assess the situation by inspecting buildings in the city which have developed cracks after the earthquake.
Meanwhile, Urban Affairs minister Ampareen Lyngdoh asserted that there are many clauses in the Meghalaya Building Bye law which talks about the permissible height and designing of buildings.
Stating that the buildings which survived the jolt in Manipur had strong foundations, she pointed out a lot has been discussed and debated about building Bye laws extension in the State and if people go by the norms, then they would definitely have safer buildings.
Stressing that spaces between buildings should be maintained for safety, she said there are many buildings in the city which have developed cracks and people should consult the architects on the matter even if they do not wish to approach Meghalaya Urban Development Authority.
The minister was also full of appreciation for MeECL saying that they were completely alert and switched off power in many localities of the city at the nick of time.
