Chamba, Kangra identifies buildings to make them earthquake-resistant

Considering the sensitivity of Chamba and Kangra districts of Himachal Pradesh with seismicity point of view, the administration of both the districts has recognised buildings for retrofitting to make them earthquake resistant and hold several earthquake awareness campaigns on April 4, to mark the 117th anniversary of the massive earthquake that claimed more than 20,000 lives. Deputy Commissioner at Chamba, DC Rana, told the media that they had recognised more than 100 school buildings in the district for retrofitting. Seven engineers from different departments of Chamba were undergoing training in the Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research–Central Building Research Institute (CSIR–CBRI), Roorkee, for the retrofitting of the buildings. Rana declared that to make youth aware of the earthquakes and safety guidelines they would be holding several programmes comprising mock drills at the educational institutions, volunteer training at Dalhousie on April 5 and 6 adding that in past they had conducted a 3-day engineers training held by CBRI on safe construction practices and retrofitting of the existing buildings. Notably, on April 4, 1905, a gigantic earthquake of 7.8 magnitudes on the Richter scale had hit the Kangra district claiming approximately 20,000 lives besides more than 53,000 animals had died and more than 1 lakh buildings were destroyed. Another significant earthquake of 6.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale had hit the Chamba district on June 1, 1945. Deputy Commissioner Kangra, Dr Nipun Jindal, said that they had recognised about 150 school and hospital buildings in the district for retrofitting to make them earthquake resistant. He said that the Kangra administration had written to the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh for the rapid visual screening, a method for the seismic assessment of the existing buildings. Simultaneously, they have written to the state government for provisioning of the funds, as per Jindal, adding that some funds had been allocated for the purpose, but the exact funds needed would be known after the survey. Image Source Also read: Himachal Pradesh Development Corporation plans land-pool policy