A Case for Earthquake Awareness and Disaster Management

Editor’s Note: A case for Earthquake Awareness

Natural calamities are uninvited guests who arrive out of nowhere and drive us out of our own residence, wrecking havoc in their wake. Earthquakes are the most common form of disaster and the recent news about terrible earthquakes all over the world is a testament to that. The first step towards safety is awareness. We should work for a better, safer future. This article features such an individual who took it upon himself to bring light upon the existing flaws in the system and provided adequate insight on how it can be bettered.

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
Jeannette Rankin

Why lax in implementing Safety?

The year 2014 saw the emergence of a strange case, brought under the attention of the Indian Supreme Court. This case stood out like none other. It was a public interest litigation filed by a citizen; a citizen who was not a lawyer, or for that matter, had not visited any court of law in his lifetime.

The person who had filed the petition was a retired Army Major and was a practicing Structural Engineer. He was a specialist in Earthquake Engineering, having done his M.Sc. in earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics from the University of Sheffield, UK. A strange combination by itself, as never before had an ex-army officer ventured to undertake a task like this. To make this unique situation even rarer, the honorable court accepted the ex-army Major’s request to argue his case as the petitioner in person.

Fighting by oneself needs courage

This was a challenge that was forced upon him as his financial situation did not permit him to hire any professional lawyers, who could take up the case in his stead. The challenge of preparing the paperwork as also argue the case in front of the country’s highest court, against reputed and acclaimed Supreme Court lawyers representing the Government, for a cause so dear to this ex-army man, was intimidating and formidable. A challenge so unique that it had never happened before and probably would never repeat.

Safety has to be everyone’s responsibility… everyone needs to know that they are empowered to speak up if there’s an issue.
Captain Scott Kelly

The case for earthquake awareness

I, Major Sandeep Shah, then 45 years of age, took up the challenge as I wanted to bring to light the fragility of the system when it came to earthquake safety in the country. Looking at the seriousness of the cause and my determination to present such a strong case, the Court decided to permit a hearing.

Three Prayers to save the day

Over the ensuing days there were many hearings. I presented three simple prayers; prayers so powerful that should Turkey have implemented those, the scale of the February 2023 tragedy would have been minuscule compared to what it was. As the events unfolded and the bodies recovered it is sure to be remembered amongst the worst disasters the world has ever seen.

The first prayer to the honorable court was that the National Disaster Management Authority undertake public awareness campaigns, on a national basis to educate the public about earthquake safety. They are also to inform them that buildings depending on earthquake safety can be classified into four separate categories.

The second prayer was that all public buildings housing more than 100 persons should have an engraved metal plate mentioning the building’s safety standard i.e. “Earthquake Resistant – Collapse Prevention, Life Safety, Operational or Unknown”.

The third prayer to the Court was that the advertisements of all realty projects should explicitly and prominently state the earthquake resistant category of the building being sold by a developer.

The Outcome

In the judgement that followed on Public Interest Litigation 376/2014 the court ordered that the Government should look into the suggestions and expressed that it has no doubts that the Government will look into it.

Prayers were simple and yet all powerful. Should we follow the three simple suggestions mentioned above there would be no need for chasing, arresting and putting contractors and developers behind bars.

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Sandeep Shah Earthquake Safety - From The Experts Mouth — Sandeep Shah

About the Author

Sandeep Shah is the Managing Director of Miyamoto Design and Engineering Consultants. He has more than 33 years of engineering experience. His engineering career started with him getting commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, Indian Army in 1989. While in Army he participated in the Kargil War, UN operations in Sierra Leone, Op-Parakaram and anti insurgency operations Op-Rakshak.

After leaving Army in 2003, he did his Masters in Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics from University of Sheffield U.K. and in 2004-05 and started his engineering consultancy. He has been instrumental in introducing and promoting many advanced and latest earthquake protection technologies in India to include dampers, tuned mass dampers and earthquake alarm systems. His specialisation is performance based design using dampers, buildings that stay functional even after a major earthquake.