Living in a quake zone: Is Manipur prepared ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 23 2011 -

Five days after the earthquake, with its epicentre at Sikkim, cut short the lives of many, besides flooring a number of houses and dreams, the exact toll or magnitude of the quake is yet to be satisfactorily worked out.

Reports streaming in from northern Sikkim suggest that the official figure of 69 dead furnished by the Government of Sikkim may just be the preliminary of the whole story with the possibility of at least five villages being totally obliterated beginning to look like a nightmare coming true.

Despite the technological advances and progress made in the sciences, mankind is still a long way off in predicting tectonic movements or in correctly assessing the likely impact of a storm, a tsunami, a cyclone or whenever mother nature decides to respond to the continuous onslaught on her state of existence and trigger off a natural disaster.

This being the case, the best answer to cope with any such disaster is preparedness. The very fact that a satisfactory assessment of of the disaster is yet to be drawn up even after five days of the earthquake exacting its price is a damning statement of how well prepared the country is in dealing with any natural disaster and its aftermath.

How well prepared was Sikkim or for that matter the other North East States are in dealing with an earthquake of the magnitude that was witnessed recently ?

The North East region lies in one of the earthquake prone areas in the world, making the question of preparedness all that more urgent and important.

The rapid urbanisation, understood in the realm of concrete structures coming up on every single open space, the mega projects in the pipeline or already in operation, the toying around with the natural flow of the river system, the high rise buildings which have sprung up haphazardly across all urban centres in the region are all potential mass killers in the event of any major quake striking the region.

All these factors taken together turned the potentially dangerous quake into a major killer or destroyer in Sikkim. Severed communications, the peril of depending on only one lifeline, the landslides etc were all factors that slowed down rescue works and by extension this meant that quite a number of people trapped under debris, whose lives could have been saved otherwise, were condemned to die.

Given the fact that urbani- sation and its accompanying features, the topography of a land, mega projects etc cannot be wished away that easily the best option left before mankind is preparedness. It is here that the growing emergence of disaster management as the de riguer of urban planning can be appreciated.

Disaster management is a science. It calls for expertise, a thorough understanding of the topography of the land, its architecture, town planning, the sciences of communica- tion etc and a disaster management cell has become as important as the support system which keeps a place ‘alive’.

It includes co-ordination of different arms of the Govern- ment, responsiveness to a situation, its back up system, etc. How well prepared is Mani-pur to deal with the situation in the event of an intense earthquake striking it or any other natural disaster ?

This is a question that must have been raised a number of times in the past but there is no harm in raising it again. Preparedness cannot remain static.

It should be dynamic and should have adaptability as one of its more important in born assets. This is the first rule. From here the question of how well prepared the State is in facing any eventuality can proceed.

There is the general understanding that there are building bye laws but the fact that this is something which have been kept in the cold storage should be obvious to all.

The preparedness of a State or a Government and by extension its people is something that can easily be seen in the manner in which public lands are being encroached on every lanes and by lanes.

The fact that commercial vehicles, auto taxis in this case, are made to park on the route which will take the Fire Tenders from their station to the place of the inferno is a telling example of how far the Government is serious about being prepared for any eventuality.

The manner in which HT wires hang perilously low in the rural areas and run just a few metres away from the high rise buildings in the urban areas is another damning testimony.

Questions may well be asked over the status of the disaster management cell in the State or whether there is such a cell or not.

It is true that the Government cannot be expected to bear the burden alone, but when the very people who are at the helm fail to dispense with their duty then expecting the public to do the same may well amount to flogging a dead horse. Are the para-medics ready for any such eventuality ?

When a landslide on the National Highway takes days to be cleared even during “normal period,” one can imagine what the situation would be like in an emergency situation after a quake or a natural disaster.

Topographically Manipur and Sikkim are very much alike, but it is doubtful if Manipur can respond to a similar situation the way the Government of Sikkim did.

Prayers can help us only to an extent and it cannot be the replacement for preparedness. The onus for preparedness should fall on all, but it is the Government which must take the lead.