Quake-proofing India

The Haiti earthquake, measuring 7 on the Richter scale, may have killed half a million people because it demolished the flimsily-built homes of the poor. In India, experts have warned that earthquakes of up to 8.5 on the Richter scale can be expected in the Himalayan foothills as one tectonic plate pushes under another. These sub-Himalayan regions of India are often as poor as Haiti, with equally-flimsy housing. Instead of just organising some more aid to Haiti, the government should see this as a signal to organise a more systematic approach to disaster prevention and mitigation. The first step must be a geological survey that enables the government to divide the country into a really-detailed series of zones with different seismic risk — the current broad categorisation of zones is not enough. Next, depending on the risk, it needs to devise different building codes for each area to mitigate the impact of a possible quake. Third, it needs to put in place arrangements for emergency assistance in the most vulnerable areas. Right now, most small towns do not have any fire-fighting equipment or staff worth mentioning.

In the US, small communities organise themselves for fire-fighting — which includes assistance after housing collapses — with grants coming from the local government. We need to incorporate this into our panchayati raj system. The problem will remain that poor people build their own homes with whatever materials they can afford, and ignore building codes. State governments have neither the political will nor administrative ability to check building code contravention. One way out is to focus on the most quake-prone zones and educate panchayats there on lessons from the Latur and Kutch earthquakes. For instance, rebuilding experiments by professor Arya and his colleagues in Kutch showed that simple, low-cost measures can be used for quake-proofing. Inserting vertical steel rods at the corners of a building, plus steel bars at the top and bottom of each wall, will improve quake-resistance enormously at low cost. Installing them does not require sophisticated skills. Educating and training panchayats in this may be the most important way of protecting those most at risk.