05/02/2019 - Geography

IAS Parliament 6 years

KEY POINTS

Causes for the Earth quakes

· Data collected by The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences point to an “earthquake swarm”, a series of many low-intensity earthquakes without a discernible main shock that can occur over weeks in active geothermal areas.

· These tremors have been caused due to intra-plate seismicity i..e occurrence of earthquakes within the tectonic plates.

· Swarms are normal in peninsular India. Scientists have found no mining activity to explain the quakes, and have ruled out a small reservoir nearby as the cause.

Mitigation strategy in the light of Sendai frame work

· Measures which are taken before the occurrence of the Earth quakes forms the core part of mitigation strategy.

· Besides saving lives, resistant school buildings can offer a community shelter in the aftermath, and help prevent education from being disrupted, thereby lessening the social impact.

· Awareness about Earth quake mitigation at the community level with help of State Disaster response force, NGOs. Example: repairing defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections, these are potential fire risks.

· Dissemination of information about the event as quickly as possible to the public at large by the district collector, taluk offices, gram panchayats as soon as possible.

· Frequent earth quake drills at public places like schools, Universities, Colleges etc. Recently The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted a mock exercise on earthquake preparedness in three North Eastern States - Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram - which was held in collaboration with the respective State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs).