BE ON TOES
As the experts have divulged long before that Jammu and Kashmir falls in the critical zone as far as tremors are concerned the repeated shaking of earth here has become a routine affair though there are still many apprehensions in the minds of stakeholders with regard to preparations made to cope up the situation if a major earthquake hits the region. Like many in the recent past, another tremor having magnitude 3.9 has struck the UT’s capital Srinagar reminding the people again that they should remain alert as a major earthquake is likely to occur the region anytime and looking into the devastation that took place in recent earthquake in Turkey, it becomes imperative that the government as well as general public should learn the lessons and take adequate steps to minimize the damage is something of same sort happens in the vicinity. The tremor in Srinagar reportedly occurred shortly after two earthquakes were reported in Afghanistan-Tajikistan region. The need of the time is to spread awareness across the Union Territory to educate the people and also rejuvenate the edifice required to contain the damage in case a major earthquake struck the region. Deep in heart every stakeholder knows in J&K that disaster preparedness still needs improvement because what presently is available is simply inadequate and won’t be able to provide desired relief to the people if earth’s crust experiences jolts like the ones which happened in Turkey recently. The shaking of earth has once again warned that doing nothing on ground as far as disaster preparedness is concerned could lead to colossal loss of human life and property. Since Jammu and Kashmir falls in a critical seismic zone, an earthquake measuring 8 to 9 on the Richter scale could wreak havoc anytime. Looking into the criticality of the situation, the region needs real experts of the field and not the nominal heads to look after this issue as experts could help immensely during such disasters. Hospitals, schools, offices, public transport especially trains and concrete jungle built without expertise and ignoring safety norms are the few other factors which are to be addressed on war footing as nobody on earth knows when the exigency will arise in Jammu and Kashmir and people would need help?