Natural Disasters like earthquakes can strike any part of the world at any instant with probability of these becoming more for the places which fall under the critical seismic zones. For the people living in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh, it is not a new thing to know because the majority of population here is abreast with this hard fact although the dispensations in the past and even those sitting at helm today have remained lethargic as far as preparedness to withstand such a crucial situation is concerned especially if a tremor of magnitude 8 or more on Richter Scale hits the region.
The latest incident of an earthquake wreaking havoc in Myanmar and its neighbouring countries including Thailand should be taken as a big lesson by the concerned authorities in J&K and Ladakh because as far as these UTs are concerned, they fall in tremor prone regions. It is startling that after 2005’s 7.6 earthquake on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir claiming thousands of lives, the governments are still complacent as the things which were there decades ago are still the same.
Under such a dismal condition, tremors of small intensity often hit this region from time to time, giving a hint to one and all to be ready, which unfortunately has not been taken as very seriously by any of the stakeholders. The latest in the series of earthquakes has been reported from Leh, Ladakh, just a day before, when a tremor of magnitude 4.2 on Richter Scale hit the region. The people in this belt of critical seismic zone are quite lucky that the Almighty has been giving them chance after chance to prepare for the worst as tremors recorded in the near past had caused no or minimal damage.
This should not be taken as for granted because no one can predict which day can turn to be ‘doomsday’ as experts have long-back warned of a dangerous level tremor here. Considering the tremor in Myanmar and the frequent occurrences of similar nature in different parts of J&K and Ladakh, it becomes essential that the government as well as the general public should learn the lessons and take adequate steps to minimize the damage if something of the same sort happens in J&K or Ladakh. LG Manoj Sinha and CM Omar Abdullah and their counterparts in Ladakh should start working on disaster management plans and preparedness as this is vital for saving lives and property.
