Journalism of Courage
Following a joint report of the Pune Municipal and All India Institute of local self-government (AIILSG) on a city disaster management plan which revealed that there are certain areas vulnerable to damage due to natural disasters,the Pune Municipal Corporation is preparing a disaster management strategy.
The report,a copy of which is with this paper,prepared in the first week of this month is being studied to implement the disaster management strategy. Deputy Commissioner (Special),PMC,Pravin Ashtikar,said that the report is being examined for implementation.
The report notes that some areas in the city with loose soil formations were vulnerable to high damages during an earthquake. The report specifically mentions that areas like Sinhagad and Dhankawadi are more vulnerable as they have black cotton soil and water bodies like Mutha river and Ambil Odha nullah close by.
As per the report,the water from these water bodies seeps into black cotton soil making it soggy and vulnerable to earthquakes. It further notes that this seeping of water makes the foundations of buildings in the areas weak and vulnerable to high damages.
Besides,the report also points out that there were many areas in Central Pune with a high population density,which stand the risk of damage in case of an earthquake. Tracing the history of earthquakes in Pune,the report notes that Pune and surrounding areas lie in seismic zone III and the city is close to some seismically active regions.
The city,it says,was in the vicinity of seismically active region of Koyna located at a distance of nearly 110 km south of Pune. The Koyna area had experienced an earthquake in 1967 whose intensity was 5 on the modified mercalli (MM) scale. Pune also felt an earthquake of 4 magnitude on MM scale in September 1993 whose epicentre was 260 km away from Pune at Killari in Latur district.
The report has asked for a suitable warning system for checking the large-scale damage to properties. It has suggested that at the active seismic zones,which are only located at a distance of 15 to 20 minutes from Pune,the instruments may be placed to provide information about the occurrence of the earthquake through radio waves. This is being suggested to give adequate time to people to respond to the natural calamity.
