The country is consumed by the prospect of new Constituent Assembly polls. Everywhere, people are debating whether there will actually be an election by December. If yes, who do they vote for? Newspapers are filled with stories about the election commission’s preparations (or lack of it). Lost in this cacophony are other matters of even greater concern, like the country’s wretched earthquake preparedness. The recent whopper on the Iran-Pakistan border doesn’t seem to have exactly scared the daylights out of the concerned authorities here. It should have.
Nepal’s lack of earthquake preparedness should be a national scandal. Kathmandu, the most earthquake-prone city in the world, also ranks among the most unprepared to face the challenges posed by a big quake. In the event of an earthquake measuring 8 (or higher) in the Richter scale, up to 60 percent of all infrastructure in the valley could be flattened; 60,000 people are projected to die. Emergency services would be crippled; vital information links broken. It would be mayhem all around.
In order to minimize damages from future earthquakes, the government is reportedly bringing out a new guideline to retrofit buildings. Currently, more than two-thirds of all constructed buildings and infrastructures in the country are deemed seismically unsafe, all built without adhering to the National Building Code (NBC). But whether the new guidelines will actually strengthen current and future infrastructure remains a big question. After all, NBC, enacted as far back as 2003, is yet to make any discernable impact on infrastructure safety, expect for a few pockets like Dharan which have been able to enforce the code rigorously. There is no reason Dharan’s success cannot be replicated in rest of Nepal. But unlike Dharan, which bore the brunt of the 1998 earthquake which killed 700 people nationwide, the rest of the country does not seem to have woken up to the grave risks of sitting on NBC in perpetuity.
Most urban settlements are bobby traps, awaiting the trail of destruction that could come anytime.
Let there be no doubt of the scale of the crisis at hand. If the CA polls cannot be held this year, the country would undoubtedly be in deep trouble. But in the event of a 7.8 earthquake (the scale of Tuesday’s earthquake on Iran-Pakistan border), the damages would be bigger still. Yet most urban settlements continue to be bobby traps, awaiting the inevitable trail of destruction that could come calling, anytime. Neither is there the political will to carry out this difficult, but very doable task, nor is there the desired level of public awareness on building safety.
Precautionary measures to be adopted during earthquakes (including the now famous duck-hold-cover technique) have received plenty of hype, but the even more vital task of strengthening existing and future infrastructure seems to have gotten relatively less attention. If the message of the great dangers posed by unsafe buildings makes the public panic, so be it. If the price of making people do the right thing for themselves, their families and the society is spreading a bit of panic, it is a price worth paying.
Related story
No need to panic from new variant of COVID-19, assures Health M...
