Shillong, March 2: A three days seminar on approach to Retrofitting Existing Dwelling and Safe Construction was inaugurated today by Smti. R Lyngdoh, Commissioner and Secretary, Department of Revenue and Disaster Management.
Held at Shillong Club, Shillong, the seminar was organised by the State Disaster Management Authority, Meghalaya in technical collaboration with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
Speaking as the Chief Guest, Smti. R Lyngdoh remined the gathering of the risk that Meghalaya faces (SDMA) owing to it falling in zone 5 of the seismic zone. Lamenting the unplanned growth of high-rise buildings across the state, she said that such structures could contribute to a disaster in case an earthquake strikes.
In addition to numerous initiatives taken by SDMA to create awareness and engage all stakeholders in disaster risk mitigation, she informed that efforts are on to engage the community and volunteers under the Aapda Mitra Scheme and in the 2nd phase of the project 5 districts of the State including East Khasi Hill, West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi, West and East Garo Hills District will be included under the scheme.
Questioning the safety of buildings, workplaces and hospitals, she stressed on the need to evaluate the safety of such buildings and also on the importance of retrofitting them so as to mitigate as much as we can. Others who spoke were Prof. Chandan Ghosh, NIDM and Prof. Devesh Walia, NEHU.
