Manipur initiates steps to tackle disaster

IMPHAL, April 3: As a first precautionary step towards disaster management and to be on the alert in the event of any natural disaster, the state government has constituted a 12 member Committee to take stock of the quality of the existing buildings in the context of safety measures against natural calamities. The Committee will meet tomorrow. The MAHUD Minister L Jayenta will head the 12-member Committee. Members include Commissioner (MAHUD), Director (MAHUD), Chief Town Planner, Chief Engineer, (Works), HoD of Earth Sciences, MU, Representatives of BMTPC, New Delhi. The Committee has been entrusted with the tasks of taking stock of the existing quality of construction of high-rise buildings in the context of the safety measures against natural calamities, incorporation of technical standard to improve the quality of the required changes in the construction laws. The Committee will also take up responsibility of initiating procedure relating to clearance of fresh buildings, prepare an Atlas of Manipur depicting the earthquake prone, cyclone prone and flood prone areas for taking pre-disaster measures. It will also look into the feasibility of changing the building by laws, town planning Acts in the light of the recommendations of the Central Experts Committee of the Ministry of Urban Development. The order for constituting the Committee was notified on March 29. Earlier on March 22, the Administrator of Imphal Municipal Council had constituted a four-member task force to check and report the unauthorised construction of buildings in town areas and identify the unsafe buildings, unauthorised stocking of building materials, encroachment on public roads/places and irregular dumping of garbage. Mention may be made here that the Northeast States including Manipur lie in the earthquake prone zones. Manipur along with the other NE States are listed under Zone 5, which record IX or more on the Maximum Intensity on Modified Mercalli Scale (MSK). MSK indicates the expected degree of damage during an earthquake.