SHILLONG: Alarmed by the recent earthquake which hit the Northeast and the city, Chief Secretary PBO Warjri held a review meeting recently with the departments of Civil Defence and Home Guards, Urban Affairs, PWD, MeECL, Health, Revenue and Disaster Management, National Informatics Centre, Fire & Emergency Service and the East Khasi Hills District Administration to take stock of the preparedness for disasters such as earthquakes.
Several important decisions including conducting of safety audits of the “life line buildings in the State” within a time frame and issue of an advisory for retrofitting of the existing buildings which were constructed prior to the enactment of the Revised Building Bye Laws of Meghalaya Urban Development Authority, 2011, were taken during the meeting.
All departments were asked to prepare and/or update their standard operating procedures to be followed in case of disasters. While the Health department was advised to prepare a contingency plan for setting up of temporary hospitals for mass casualty treatment, the MeECL as well as other concerned departments were advised to explore emergency power backup plans for the important life line buildings in the State.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that a preliminary check of dams of the MeECL was also carried out and the same indicated that no damage had taken place.
An earthquake measuring 6.7 in the Richter scale with its epi-centre at Tamenglong in Manipur rocked the northeastern region including Shillong at around 4:35 am on Monday last.
