Earthquake, any sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks. Seismic waves are produced when some form of energy stored in Earth’s crust is suddenly released, usually when masses of rock straining against one another suddenly fracture and “slip.” Earthquakes occur most often along geologic faults, narrow zones where rock masses move in relation to one another. The major fault lines of the world are located at the fringes of the huge tectonic plates that make up Earth’s crust. Earthquake causes a lot of destruction both to property and lives, as we have seen before some days more than 34000 people have died so far and many thousands injured after an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck turkey and Syria, in this major earthquake we witnessed a loss of thousands of lives and property likes buildings , roads , cars , and other infrastructure was hugely damaged. All this damage, people often ascribe malevolence to earthquakes , but please do remember and keep in mind that not even a single person has ever been killed directly by an earthquake but what we people are doing we are not constructing our buildings and all with the provisions laid by engineers , we are constructing things that are prone to failures in earthquakes and then living around these buildings results in deaths during earthquakes as they are not constructed to be earthquake failure resistant. As per the reports after the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria in which more than 34000 people have been killed, a study reveals that such seismic activity can rattle Kashmir too, a region that falls under Seismic Zone 5.In 2007, geophysical research conducted by the University of Kashmir (KU) in collaboration with the University of Colorado in Boulder, US, feared that a possible magnitude 9.0 earthquake could potentially hit the Kashmir valley. Let’s talk about kashmir , if an earthquake strucks the valley of Kashmir as mentioned in the study by experts there would be destruction, at the time of constructing building i think majority of people don’t follow the building provisions and accordingly you may guess the extent of damge that may be caused because of this earthquake. The regulation of building construction is a must who so ever goes for construction either of houses or any other building the people should Follow the building provisions so that the damage can be minimised due to the earthquake by building the earthquake resistant structures. A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred on 8th October 2005 at 9.20.38 AM (IST) with epicentre at 34.432=B0N, 73.537=B0E in Muzaffarabad Region of POK. The shaking caused massive destruction to houses, public buildings and communication network in Jammu & Kashmir.
This high intensity earthquake was felt across many states like Jammu and Kashmir, Uttranchal, Punjab , Himachal Pradesh, Delhi ,up ,Haryana and Rajasthan at 9:25am .the worst hit districts in Jammu and Kashmir as per reports were Uri, Tangdhar, Poonch, Baramulla, Udhampur, Ramban, Kathua, Budgam, Anantnag, Pulwama, Kupwara, Srinagar and Jammu. As per the official confirmation of deaths almost 1300 deaths were reported. As per the reports many buildings that were destroyed in this earthquake were constructed using random rubble masonry and bricks laid in clay mud mortar. Most of them had corrugated galvanized iron sheet roofing and no earthquake resisting measure were used. As per the experts an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 may struck valey of Jammu and Kashmir so all of us need to follow earthquake resisting measures. As our Jammu and Kashmir is more vulnerable to earthquakes and other natural disasters , our valley of Jammu and Kashmir is situated in the high seismic zone and is more vulnerable to earthquakes so we people need to build our houses as per the provisions of building, we can’t prevent these earthquake but atleast we can minimise the damge by constructing our buildings according to provisions of building and besides this we must be aware that our Jammu and Kashmir is more susceptible to earthquakes and other natural disasters so we must not go for constructions at the vulnerable spots like those of steep and hilly areas. As we know Jammu and Kashmir is placed in zone v , with highest seismicity that means an earthquake can cause a lot of destruction , I request people to be aware that the extent of the damage not only depends upon the magnitude of an earthquake but the procedures followed for construction. So I hope the people of Jammu & Kashmir will take full care in using all necessary safety elements in the new constructions whether for housing or for important buildings for Schools, Public health or Community congregations by consulting engineers. People shouldn’t go panicky, indeed we welcome the opinion of experts , we can’t stop natural disasters like earthquakes. The destruction caused by the natural disasters can’t be avoided but we can minimise them by adopting respective procedures and guidelines.
(The author a resident of Raiyar Budgam is PG Student of Environmental Sciences. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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