We woke up last night at 4:40 AM quite shaken up (in the literal sense of the word) due to an earthquake. I jumped out of the bed as windowpanes rattled, furniture shook, and the ceiling fan swung like a pendulum. Even though we have a ground-floor apartment, the rattle was quite a bit. I can imagine the plight of (and sympathize with) folks living in high rise buildings.The experience was quite scary!
Per the morning news, the epicenter lay on the Delhi-Haryana border, 10 km from Bahadurgarh (dangerously close to the capital). Even though the Met Department described the earthquake (measured 4.3 on the Richter scale) as “light,” it was enough to initiate a debate on Delhi’s preparedness for a natural disaster (which I think is quite pathetic).
Found the following earthquake safety tips on the net. The figure above shows that Delhi-NCR falls in the moderate to high-hazard zone, so please absorb the Dos and Don’ts.
1. If you are indoors, duck or drop down to the floor. Take cover under a sturdy desk, table or other furniture. Hold on to it and be prepared to move with it. Hold the position until the ground stops shaking and it is safe to move. Stay clear of windows, fireplaces, woodstoves, and heavy furniture or appliances that may fall over. Stay inside to avoid being injured by falling glass or building parts. If you are in a crowded area, take cover where you are. Stay calm and encourage others to do likewise.
2. If you are outside, get into the open, away from buildings and power lines.
3. If you are driving, stop if it is safe, but stay inside your car. Stay away from bridges, overpasses and tunnels. Move your car as far out of the normal traffic pattern as possible. If possible, avoid stopping under trees, light posts, power lines, or signs.
1 comment:
Well, from the Richter scale standpoint, 4.3 is indeed a light earthquake. But when applied to the haphazard and uncontrolled development in the NCR region, it translates into scary situation.
When constructing their house, people only want to "grab" as much living space as possible for as cheap as possible. And this observation holds true even in the so called planned and posh areas. Their "small lawn" space would "slightly" encroach upon the street space or would have numerous numbers of cars parked outside. No one wants to construct their houses with a proper plan and construction material that can handle such catastrophe with out translating it into a tragic situation. Both authorities and people are to be blame.
BTW, we, in bay area California, had a 5.6 earthquake on Oct 30 that lasted for approx 12 sec, followed by after shocks upto 3.5 magnitude, which continued until the next day. The epicenter was located just 8 miles (or 12.8 KMs for those in metric systems) from my home. So, this was a moderate earthquake, but no loss of life or property. We were at home preparing for the dinner and I could see the walls of my home slanting so much that I thought "this is it" and we rushed out when second set of aftershock started. After it was over, we came back and not even a single crack I noticed anywhere.
These are natural events, and will keep happening as long as our planet has soft core in its belly, and the tectonic plates would keep moving. One can only prepare by being sensible and respect the nature.
Those are my two cents - Baahh!! Never mind because with continued falling value of dollar, the two cents are worthless.
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