"Earthquake-resistant structures must in Himachal"

Kangra Divisional Commissioner Nadita Gupta today stressed upon the need of building and having earthquake-resistant structures in the state to minimise the loss of lives and damage to the property during such calamities.
Gupta made the remark in her inaugural address to a workshop aimed at spreading the awareness for the need of having earthquake-resistant structures in the state.
The two-day workshop has been organised to spread the requirement of the vital need among the engineers and masons involved in construction activities in vulnerable districts of Kangra, Chamba, Una and Hampirpur.
"Himachal Pradesh as a whole is highly vulnerable for earthquakes. We must design our structures to be earthquake resistant so that there is minimum damage at the time of any event and precious lives may be saved," said the officer.

She further stated that these training programmes should be made a continuous feature in the state and each and every organ of the society should be apprised of the crucial need.
The two-day disaster preparedness awareness program is being conducted by the Centre on Climate Change under the aegis of State Council for Science Technology & Environment (SCSTE) with the technical collaboration of Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee.
From the seismic point of view, the state is considered to be very sensitive as it falls in Zone V and IV of the Seismic Map of India with around 32 percent of the area of Kangra, Chamba, Mandi, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Una and Kullu districts falling in "Very High Damage Risk Zone V" and the remaining districts in being located in High Damage Risk Zone IV, said experts participating in the workshop.

During the last 100 years, the state has been rocked by as many as 49 earthquakes having magnitude of more than 5 on the Richter scale, they said, while stressing upon the need of having earthquake-resistant structures.