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Journalism of Courage
To its surprise, the expert team from the Centre visiting J-K today found that houses built in the traditional Kashmiri style of architecture—known in local parlance as bajji-diwari system—had withstood the quake quite well, particularly in Baramullah. The team urged the people, staying in the open and facing the biting cold out of fear, to return to their houses that had suffered least damage.
The team also visited Uri today.
The team, which includes A.S. Arya, Chief Advisor of the Union Home Ministry’s Disaster Management Cell and D.K. Paul of IIT, Rourkee, found that houses built in bajji-diwari system had survived the quake. The system, with wooden frame and special nogging (placement of bricks), ‘‘proved to be quake-resistant’’, Arya said. The team includes seismologists and engineers. ‘‘Though Uri is in ruins (because of indiscriminate and excessive use of stone and mortar for walls), in Baramulla we found that buildings constructed in the bajji-diwari style had suffered the least damage. Some of them, even very old ones, developed only a few cracks,’’ he added.
Arya and Paul spent most of the day surveying the damage in Baramulla. ‘‘We counselled people to go back to their houses which were safe with a few cracks here and there, just as we had done after the Gujarat quake. But people are so scared that they prefer staying in the open and facing the biting cold to returning home, which complicates relief operations,’’ Arya said.
The team is planning to recommend retro-fitting in schools and a number of other public buildings in J-K to quake-proof them, Paul, who specialises in earthquake engineering, said, adding that the reconstruction work in some areas was going to be a ‘‘huge task’’.
Preliminary estimates by the Urban Development Ministry show that around 33,000 houses have to be rebuilt. One of the PSUs under the Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Ministry, HUDCO, will give Rs 250 crore (as concessional loan) to J-K for the reconstruction project. This fund would primarily be used to rebuild houses, officials said.
They added that India’s recent experiences—tsunami, quakes in Kutch and Latur, and super-cyclone in Orissa—had equipped it to tackle relief operations in J-K better.
