Building norms compliance poor in state,says NDMA vice-chairman

“I have visited a lot of cities in Maharashtra where building construction norms are not followed. This causes more trouble in case of a disaster,” said Shashidhar Reddy,vice-chairman of NDMA. “A more corrupt country stands to lose more lives in times of a disaster than a better governed and less corrupt country.”

Citing a report by two professors of Imperial College,London,and University of Colarado,that 83 per cent of the building that are damaged in earthquakes are in countries which have high level of corruption and are poor at following Building Code norms,Reddy emphasised that this point needs to be kept in mind to make any city a disaster resilient place.

“To make the country more disaster-proof,the Building Code norms are being implemented across the country wherein under the Reserve Bank of India,the banks which give loans for housing and construction need to ensure that the buildings which have been constructed are according to the building safety norms,” said Reddy.

While discussing about the strategies for a disaster-resilient Maharashtra,Reddy said the NDMA was working on a policy of seismic retrofitting,which would include modifying building structures.

“We are planning a project to impart training to architects,engineers and masons to help them make and repair buildings that should be disaster resilient,” said Reddy.

While maintaining that he is satisfied with the disaster preparedness plans for Mumbai,Reddy said what lacks is the proper documentation of the experiences of agencies and people during the past disasters. While we document success stories of how a flood or a terrorist attack was handled,the failure stories and consequences of inaction are not documented. This is important if we want to learn from our mistakes,” he said.

Various senior officials and state representatives,including Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan,were present during the day-long conference.

The conference also addressed the issues regarding rehabilitation projects across the state. “…the rehabilitation projects across the country,including Jaitapur,Tarapur,are not being undertaken as per norms. We are trying to rectify and find solutions for those”.