Guwahati, Nov. 27: The National Institute of Disaster Management under the ministry of home affairs has suggested setting up a disaster museum in the Northeast.
This was revealed by the head of geo-hazards division at the institute, Chandan Ghosh, on the sidelines of a workshop on Safe and Sustainable Construction in the North East here today.
“It is needed in a place like the Northeast, which is a disaster-prone region. It will help create more awareness among the people,” Ghosh said.
Asked to elaborate on what the museum would showcase, Ghosh said there could be photographs, documents, personal accounts and any other information relating to disasters in the region.
Ghosh said there are many reports on the great Assam earthquake of 1897. There is a detailed article on the earthquake by H. Luttman-Johnson, I.C.S., who had served in Assam for 18 years, in the Journal of the Society of Arts (April 1898). Besides this, there are many newspaper reports on the quake.
The Assam earthquake of 1897 was investigated in thorough detail by the director of the Geological Survey of India, Thomas Oldham (1816-1878), who published a book on it in 1899 bringing forth several hypotheses to explain its origin.
Ghosh said it is of utmost importance to conduct a vulnerability check of Guwahati’s infrastructure as it falls in seismic zone V.
“The most challenging task is the assessment of the old buildings,” Ghosh said. Appropriate steps need to be taken to check their condition. Officials of the institute are coming to Assam in January for a training programme on earthquake risk mitigation.”
“We regularly hold these programmes and assess the capabilities of the disaster management staff. We provide them with the rules and then ask them to follow these guidelines while sanctioning projects,” he said.
Principal secretary, disaster management, Assam, V.K. Pipersenia, called for ushering in a culture of safe and sustainable construction. “Devel-opment today means living amidst concrete,” Pipersenia said. Measures, he added, must be taken for safe construction in the Northeast for its high seismic activity.
Revenue and disaster management minister Bhumidhar Barman spoke on the steps taken by the disaster management department to mitigate disasters.
Massive awareness programmes, he said, have been undertaken, besides training of schoolteachers, doctors, engineers and a large number of volunteers on this issue