NDMA has become totally ineffective: Former vice chair Reddy

Former National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice chairman Shashidhar Reddy on Saturday said that the organisation has become 'completely ineffective'.

"It saddens me to notice that the NDMA has become totally ineffective. The organisation that we built up right from its inception... the only option we have to deal with earthquakes is to be better prepared, because we have no forewarning, and this is what we had learnt after the triple disaster which struck Japan in 2011," Reddy told ANI.

Reddy further said that a mock drill had been planned for the Nepal-India region in 2014-15, which was never carried out.

"This inaction, this failure of the NDMA is a very sad reflection. It could have helped people and the administration to deal with the disaster in a better way. This is not what the people of this country expect from the government," he added.

Earlier in the day, a massive earthquake struck Nepal and North India, resulting in massive loss of life and property.

According to reports, the epicentre of the tremors was said to be in Pokhra, Nepal, with the European Mediterranean Seismological Center stating that the earthquake measured 7.4 on the Richter scale.

Further details are awaited.