Unabated earthquake fear Abdul Khaleque Earthquakes happen when forces deep within our planet cause movement of the earth's outer layer called the crust. The rock plates that make up the earth's crust number about 20. Most earthquakes occur along the boundaries of major plates. As the mantle moves plates slowly around the globe, the plates may crape against each other. Sometimes pressure along the edges becomes so great that something has to give way. Then the land trembles with an earthquake.

Hurricane Price Tags Soaring On Crowded US Coast US: April 7, 2008 MIAMI - The damage caused to US coastal cities by hurricanes promises to rise into the stratosphere, raising concerns about a possible $500 billion storm and prompting calls for tougher building codes. Devastating hurricanes like 1992's Andrew and Katrina of 2005 have failed to put a dent in massive construction along the hurricane-vulnerable Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where millions of people face evacuation when a storm threatens.

With chances of conventional war becoming rare, the Centre has mooted a proposal to change the character of civil defence by giving its volunteers the responsibility of tackling disasters in addition to protecting people and property from external aggression or internal disturbances. Currently, the activities of civil defence is to provide necessary support to citizens in 124 selected cities at the time of external aggression. Under the proposed change, the Centre is plans to extend its activities to all 604 districts in the country.

Big Tokyo Quake To Cram Streets In Rush For Home JAPAN: April 4, 2008 TOKYO - A big earthquake in Tokyo during the day would force more than 12 million people to try to walk home, cramming streets and causing confusion, the government said. Tokyo's transport network would stop running, leaving people with journeys of up to 15 hours on foot to get home on roads packed with people -- possibly more than six people per square metre (11 square feet), similar to a rush-hour train, it said.

The National Disaster Management Authority conducted an Industrial disaster drill at Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil division's) at Digboi Refinery recently. The drill was conducted to test the preparedness of the civil administration concerned in the event of a major industrial disaster. The scenario envisaged for the disaster involved three mishaps: leakage of LPG at the LPG dispatch unit. Blast in hydrogen bullets in the refinery and leakage of chlorine due to catastrophic failure of toner, occurring almost simultaneously resulting in a large number of casualties. The District Administration, Civil Hospital, Civil Defence, State Fire Service, Police Department, Revenue Department, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Divisions's) mutual aid partners such as Oil India Limited, Assam Gas Company Limited, North East Electric Power Corporation, Brahmaputra Valley Fertilisers Limited, Coal India Limited participated in the drill. NGOs like Lions Club of Digboi, Rotary Club of Digboi, also participated in the drill. At the concluding session, Brig (Dr) BK Khanna, senior specialist, National Disaster Management Authority, spoke on the various observations made by the expert panel of Brig Khanna, R Dubey, Director, National Disaster Management Institute, Bhopal and CR Deka, Chief Factories Inspector, Asom. He appreciated the response of the various organizations involved in the drill and pointed out the areas where further improvement could be effected. The session ended with vote of thanks from CR Deka, Chief Inspector of Factories, Asom. The National Disaster Management Authority was created after the enactment of the Disaster Management Act of the Government of India in December 2005 to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to disaster management in India. Since its inception, the authority has been stimulating disaster scenarios in various parts of the country and conducting detailed mock drills on disaster management, sources added.

M. Shashidhar Reddy, Congress MLA and member of the National Disaster Management Authority, on Sunday wanted the World Bank to focus on funding disaster prevention. Delivering the keynote address at the opening session of the Sustainable Development Network Week organised by the Global Forum for Disaster Risk and Recovery (GFDRR) of the World Bank at Washington, Mr. Reddy said the bank at present approached natural disasters in a manner that was reactive rather than proactive and strategic. "When the World Bank is being reactive, project objectives provide for short-term fixes and rarely address the root causes of disaster. Projects are rushed to approval but then disbursement is delayed. Reconstruction projects build infrastructure that is not disaster resilient and the time required for implementation is consistently underestimated,' he said in a press release from Washington. Need for review There was a need to review the working of the World Bank itself to see how it could further get involved in disaster prevention, which will contribute significantly to sustainable development. Quoting from an evaluation about the bank's funding of projects across the world, he observed that it had mostly lent for emergencies since its inception. Some 110 countries have borrowed for natural disasters for about 528 projects covering more than 60 different activities. Reconstruction focus But these focused primarily on reconstruction with just 21 (out of 528) projects being wholly devoted to prevention. His other suggestions included preparing a strategy that takes into account the differing vulnerabilities of borrowing countries, modifying current operational guidelines so that they address the long-term development needs of borrowers and ensuring that the bank has sufficient specialised expertise available to respond quickly. Highlight A highlight of this year's events was the session under the cross-cutting theme "Investing in Disaster Prevention for Sustainable Development,' he said. The opening session was chaired by Kathy Sierra, Vice-President, Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. "In India there is now a paradigm shift in our approach from the rescue and relief centric approach to a holistic approach covering all phases including pre-disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness,' he said.

After the devastating earthquake of 1869, Barak Valley was hit by another tremor of serious dimension in 1984. The studies then carried out by experts from the Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Jorhat, and the National Geographical Research Institute, Hyderabad, revealed that this valley and the entire North-east region is active seismologically. Interestingly, the Trans-Atlantic belt and the Circum-Pacific belt that form part of the two great earthquake zones or seismic belts in the world unite at the corner of Asom and Myanmar, which is the most unstable seismic region.