11. Societal Projects
Monitoring of dams is an ongoing activity to keep a watch on the health
of these dams. CSIR-NGRI has been involved in monitoring of many dams in
different regions of the country, e.g. Srisailam dam (Andhra Pradesh),
Bhatsa and Dhamni dams (Maharashtra), Kalpsar dam (Gujarat), Gandhisagar
dam (Madhya Pradesh) to name a few. Estimation of seismic hazard for the
cultural heritage sites like Shree Ram Mandir in Uttar Paradesh, and
Somnath and Dwarka in Gujarat are among the most highlighted hazard
based studies conducted by CSIR-NGRI.
11.1 Developing an Earthquake Resilient Society in the Vicinity
of
Himalaya
Among the seismically active continental regions, the Himalayan region
is very significant with large human population in the immediate
vicinity. The Himalayan region experienced four great earthquakes of M
\(\sim\) 8 within a short span of 55 years from 1897 to 1952.
The region has not experienced an earthquake of similar magnitude since
1952. Developing an earthquake resilient society through the process of
developing earthquake scenarios, as to what would be the impact if one
of the past earthquakes repeats today, is an extremely useful approach
and sharing this information with all concerned, doing the needful to
educate and enrich the concerned government departments, and making the
public a shareholder, helps. The 1905 Kangra earthquake of M
\(\sim\) 8 had claimed \(\sim\) 20,000 human lives in
addition to causing widespread damage. A scenario was built by the
National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA), Government of India, as to what would be the
consequences if such an earthquake occurred today? It was discovered
that \(\sim\) 0.9 million human lives would be lost in the
states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of
Chandigarh if this earthquake occurred in the middle of the night. A
year-long phase of training and educating at various levels to develop
an earthquake resilient society in the states of Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh during 2012-2013
culminated in a mega mock drill on the 13 February 2013. It demonstrated
what all had been achieved and what was missing. Encouraged by the
success a similar exercise was carried out for the repeat of the 1897
Shillong earthquake for 8 northeast Indian states during 2013-2014
culminating in mega mock drills on 10 and 13 March 2014 (Gupta, 2020;
Goff et al., 2020; Gupta and Sabnis, 2021).