By Munize Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: North East People’s Alliance, has warned all the decision makers about the lessons to be learnt from the Japan’s Tsunami and earth quack. In a press note issued on March 17, 2011 the Alliance warned that if the constructions of the numbers of dams are not halted, people of north east will face similar situation like that of Japan’s recent natural disaster. North East India sits on the highest earth quake zone 5.
The Alliance has raised this issue of safety of dams and has urged governments and dam builders to refrain from building large dams which can bring disasters. India’s North East is seismically one of the six most active regions of the world, the other five being Mexico, Taiwan, California, Japan and Turkey. It is placed in zone 5, the highest zone, of the seismic zonation map of India. It lies at the junction of Himalayan arc to the north and Burmese arc to the east. The region has experienced 18 large earthquakes during the last hundred years including the great earthquakes of Shillong (1897, M=8.7) and Assam-Tibet border (1950, M=8.7). Besides, several hundred small and micro earthquakes have also been recorded in the region.
Bamang Tago of Arunachal Citizen’s Rights and Ramananda Wangkheirakpam of Forum for Indigenous Perspectives & Action said that the alarming number of large dams being planned in the region, particularly in Arunachal, is a concern. Not only that these dams are going to be built in an highly earthquake prone zone but also that these dams themselves can triggered seismicity which is also referred to as reservoir-induced seismicity due to the impoundment of large reservoirs. The most serious case may be the 7.9-magnitude Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, which killed an estimated 80,000 people and has been linked to the construction of the Zipingpu Dam.
The Alliance called upon the Chief Ministers of North East in particular the CM of Arunachal to immediately halt all dams, including those already under operation, so as to review their safety.