Nagaland is a part of the 'most severe seismic zone of the country' termed as 'zone V' in the zoning map of India and is bracing up to meet any eventuality.

A disaster awareness meeting, organised by the Nagaland government's department of Information and public relations, educated the people on how to combat the natural calamities like earthquakes, landslides and storm. Nagaland Government has earmarked Rs 20,000 lakh for disaster management and a proposal is being submitted to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for meeting the cost. The government has already set up a state-level disaster management committee with the chief secretary as steering committee chairman. The state Home department has also set up control rooms in every district headquarters.

The state of Nagaland has been pronounced as a very 'high damage risk zone' in the vulnerability atlas of India, 1997, as the construction of 95 per cent of the buildings in the state was hazardous.

Nagaland has already experienced earthquakes up to 7.0 on the Richter scale in 1950 with its epicenter only seven kms away from Mon town of the state, but the damage was less then due to a low density in population and lesser number of high-rise structures. Speaking at the meeting, Secretary of Information and Public relations department Viketol Sakhrie stressed on the need to create awareness about the do's and don’ts during an earthquake.

The seminar was attended by Home department officials, Fire Service officials, journalists and the principals of various schools and colleges.

Nagaland| North East Enquirer (Headlines) | Nena Home Page |