By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS,
Guwahati : The Assam government Wednesday decided to launch a massive screening of multi-storied apartments and old buildings after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake Monday led to cracks in several structures in the state.
“Since Guwahati is densely populated with hundreds of high rise buildings, we have asked concerned departments to screen all multi-storied apartment blocks to find out the fitness level of such structures,” state Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman told IANS.
Monday’s high magnitude tremor led to several cracks developing in apartments, besides at least two high rise buildings tilting.
“A massive drive is also being launched to find out whether real estate promoters and builders are conforming to norms while constructing the structures. Tough action is being planned against errant builders,” the minister said.
The government is also undertaking a drive to find out the fitness level of several old structures and buildings in the city.
“If required, we shall have to ask the owners to dismantle old structures that are unfit for staying,” Barman said.
In another startling revelation, the Revenue and State Disaster Management Authority admitted that several lifeline buildings in Guwahati are not fully safe.
“We carried out a random assessment of five lifeline structures like the Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMC), the State Fire Service Office, Deputy Commissioner’s Office, and the State Secretariat complex. The MMC Hospital and the Fire Service building need to be strengthened,” B.S. Pipersenia, Principal Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, said.
Meanwhile, there is considerable panic among residents of several apartments that developed cracks.
“Our engineers are assessing the buildings and, if required, we shall have to ask the residents to vacate the buildings,” the minister said.
Six earthquakes have rocked the region since Aug 11, the last one being on Tuesday.
The seven northeastern states — Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur — are considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake prone belt in the world. In 1897, the region experienced India’s worst earthquake, measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, killing 1,600 people.