Case Study: Gujarat Earthquake
2001 Bhuj Earthquake: Preliminary Report from IITKanpur
A Powerful Earthquake of magnitude 6.9 on Richter-Scale rocked the Western Indian State of Gujarat on the26th of January, 2001. It caused extensive damage to life & property. This earthquake was so devastating inits scale and suffering that the likes of it had not been experienced in past 50 years. Leaving thousandsseriously injured, bruised and handicapped; both physically, psychologically and economically.
The epicenter of the quake was located at 23.6 north Latitude and 69.8 east Longitude, about 20 kmNortheast of Bhuj Town of the Kutch district in Western Gujarat. At a depth of only 23 kms below surface thisquake generated intense shaking which was felt in 70% region of India and far beyond in neighbouringPakistan and Nepal too. This was followed by intense after shocks that became a continued source of anxietyfor the populace.
The Seismicity of the affected Area of Kutch is a known fact with a high incidence of earthquakes in recenttimes and in historical past. It falls in Seismic Zone V. The only such zone outside the Himalayan SeismicBelt. In last 200 years important damaging earthquakes occurred in 1819, 1844, 1845, 1856, 1869,1956 in thesame vicinity as 2001 earthquake.
Twenty-one of the total 25 districts of the state was affected in this quake. Around 18 towns, 182 talukas and7904 villages in the affected districts have seen large-scale devastation. The affected areas even spread upto 300 km from the epicentre. In the Kutch District, four major urban areas – Bhuj, Anjar, Bachau and Raparsuffered near total destruction. The rural areas in the region are also very badly affected with over 450villages almost totally destroyed.
In addition, wide spread damages also occurred in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Patan and Ahmedabaddistricts. Other Urban areas such as Ganhidham, Morvi, Rajkot and Jamnagar have also suffered damage tomajor structures, infrastructure and industrial facilities. Ahmedabad the capital was also severely affected.Gujarat Earthquake is very significant from the point of view of earthquake disaster mitigation in India. Theproblems observed in this disaster are no different from other major recent earthquakes in the world. Theissues in the recovery and reconstruction phase are: the proper understanding risk among differentstakeholders, training and confidence building among the professionals and masons with appropriatedevelopment planning strategies.
This quake has provided numerous examples of geo-technical and structural failures. The traditional wisdomof design and construction practises of engineered buildings prevalent in this country came under criticism forthe first time. It has triggered comprehensive understanding on what needs to be done in this regard. A common site of destruction of the villages in the meizoseismal area.
Rubble of collapsed buildings being cleared at Anjaar. Narrow lanes caused significant casualties and maderescue and relief very difficult. Kudos to the rescue/relief workers for their daring efforts!!Virtually nothing could be recovered from most RC frame buildings that collapsed. Clearing of debris fromcollapse of numerous multistorey RC frame buildings was an even bigger challenge.Relief distribution after the earthquake. Temporary shelters in the town of Morbi.
Case studies: Indonesia
Tsunami survivors renew their spirit for learning
Almost 200 children have a safe, comfortable learning environment after a new school and kindergarten were handed over to local officials at a ceremony in Lamno, Aceh Jaya districtin November 2007.
Students, teachers and parents were delighted when the head of their local education department formally accepted the buildings from World Vision.
“This new school is really beautiful and I like the view and the classroom. The floor is tiled which we never had before. I’m so happy and I can’t wait to study in this classroom tomorrow morning!” said eight-year-old Safriani, as her friends squealed in delighted agreement.
World Vision constructed six classrooms, a staff room and modern toilet facilities with disabled access for the 108 primary students who attend the school.
The smart new kindergarten, located in a neighbouring village, has two classrooms, toilets and a staff room. The kindergarten principal recently initiated a community education campaign to encourage parents to send their children along and is overwhelmed by the success – 75 children have enrolled.
The earthquake and tsunami completely destroyed the old school and kindergarten, leaving only their foundations as reminders of the previous buildings. The tsunami also claimed the lives of 200 of the school’s students and three from the old kindergarten.
“Many children have been traumatised by the conflict and the tsunami but, at this kindergarten, they are able to share and study together again,” kindergarten principal Harnanunsa Emma Mutya explained.
World Vision UK raised funds for the buildings, furniture, learning materials and playground equipment for both the school and the kindergarten.
World Vision has made a significant contribution to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the education sector in Aceh. The handover of these schools and one further school marks the completion of the construction or major rehabilitation of 14 schools and two kindergartens.
In addition to constructing schools, World Vision has provided 22,400 Acehnese children from 171 schools with stationery, furniture, uniforms and textbooks.
During the early emergency and recovery phase, the organisation set up 25 temporary schools using tents and prefabricated buildings.
World Vision has also trained more than 500 teachers as part of an education programme. The “Creating Learning Communities for Children’ programme, supported by the national Ministry of Education, seeks to actively engage communities in their children’s education and trains educators in child-centred teaching.
Case Studies: India
A chance for change in women's status
Women are welcoming increased leadership roles and livelihood opportunities 3 years after the tsunami, according to a recent survey of World Vision’s tsunami recovery projects.
The independent survey by Tango International found that women’s participation in livelihood groups, community activities, meetings and development projects is enabling them to play a more pivotal role in their communities' development.
In India, where communities struggle with issues of education for girls, early marriage, lack of inheritance rights and an unequal balance of decision-making, recognition of the need for gender equality is one of the cornerstones of World Vision programming.
World Vision’s involvement of women as key partners in the design, implementation and monitoring of projects helped to identify gender issues in tsunami-affected areas. Leaders of women’s groups were among the community groups consulted to select beneficiaries.
For homes reconstructed by World Vision women’s names were included on the home and land ownership certificates alongside their husbands'. This was the first time many women have been legally recognised as joint owners of their property.
In addition, the presence of bathrooms in new homes has ensured increased protection of women, as many feared bathing in open areas at night in their pre-tsunami dwellings. In the study, women expressed great relief at this improved security.
Many women are now conducting financial transactions for themselves and their families. Women's access to business development and skills training in areas such as tailoring, information technology, bookkeeping and driving has increased. Women have been linked to small business grants and introduced to potential employers to secure better jobs and sustainable income for the future.
According to Tango International, “World Vision India's tsunami response has done a great service to the households and communities recovering from the terrible events of December 2004. That World Vision remained in communities well beyond the relief phase allowed them to undertake important medium-term actions to accelerate the recovery process and ensure that communities came away from the tragedy stronger than they met it. The attention they paid to community consultation and articulation of needs at various points during the programme design was clearly reflected in the quality of the programming and the appreciation that was expressed by community members.”
Case Studies: Sri Lanka
Thirst for peace brings 2,000 tsunami survivors together
Some 2,000 people from five villages across the southern district of Sri Lanka took part in peace-building activities earlier this year.
Children led the way in games such as tug of war and ‘guess the number of seeds in the papaya’ as a way of bringing together multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-caste groups of people.
After the Asian tsunami killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed some 41,000 homes along Sri Lanka’s coastline, communities find themselves still learning to gel together.
Peace-building activities have taken place in thirteen permanent housing sites across eight tsunami-affected districts to help communities identify their own problems, seek solutions and make decisions about how to implement them.
In some coastal areas, entire communities had to move and relocate. Singhalese and Muslim people were finding themselves living side by side in ways they had never done before. The opportunity for tension and conflict was great.
Yet the opportunities for building relationships and trust proved to be even greater.
After watching the children play tug of war, Sarif Dean Dinah, 23, asked if the women could play.
“This is the first time since the tsunami that Muslims and Singhalese have mixed together for a programme like this,” she said.
Dinah’s uncle, who lost his wife in the tsunami, said that the programme brought about a sense of unity amongst the people.
“We played the games without worrying about ethnicity or caste.”
Jo-Hannah Lavey, a conflict sensitivity and peace-building advisor for World Vision, explained that there are a number of ‘connectors’ that can build up strong communities, even in the presence of large ‘dividers’.
"World Vision recognises the potential for conflict when people integrate into new communities,” she said.
“There is a general feeling of unease. Our peace-building activities focus on bringing people together to build relationships and trust. The games we play are intended to help people interact and break down barriers and stereotypes.”
The September 29, 1993, M6.4 Killari, Maharashtra Earthquake in Central India.
Most of the world seismicity is concentrated along the plate boundaries. However, a significant number of arthquakes, including some large and damaging ones, do occur within the plates. Our understanding of intracratonic seismogenesis and the hazard it entails is poor, in part because data are scarce.
The 1993 Killari earthquake in central peninsular India is the latest intracratonic event to be responsible for a large disaster. The positive side of this tragedy is that it will provide new insights into geologic, engineering and cultural factors that control the distribution and degree of damage, which will aid in turn the development of a more effective hazard reduction program for peninsular India and similar intrapolate environments. This report summarizes our observations during a ten-day investigation of the mesoseismal area of the 1993 Killari earthquake. Several aspects of the earthquake were investigated, ranging from the surface rupture and related deformation to the pattern of damage to engineered and traditional structures.
Finally, the rescue and reconstruction efforts following the earthquake brought out important issues that are generally relevant to earthquake hazard reduction in traditional rural settings; these are also briefly discussed.
Emergency Response
The affected area does not suffer from floods and was considered Aseismic. The only natural disaster known in the area is drought. Hence, the earthquake took the people and administration by surprise. It took the administration 2 to 4 days to effectively organize rescue and relief operations. What then followed appeared to be well-organized and effective. Civilian as well as military authorities cooperated in the effort. Since the reconnaissance team did not visit the affected areas of Karnataka, the discussion here is based on the response in the districts of Latur and Osmanabad only.
Of all the villages devastated by the quake, only the village of Killari had a wireless connection with the
district police headquarters at Latur. Within minutes, the information about the devastation in Killari was conveyed to Latur and from there to the state headquarters at Bombay. Immediately, about 20 policemen stationed at Ausa (28 km) were rushed to Killari, followed by district level administrators (District Collector, Superintendent of Police, etc). About 50 policemen were also dispatched from Latur (42 km). Immediate search and rescue was conducted by the survivors and the limited police rescue teams. As the day progressed, information about equally severe devastation from nearby villages started reaching Killari. By early next morning (Oct. 1), the Indian army took over the task of search and rescue.
By the afternoon of the day of the earthquake, many curious onlookers had arrived in the area. This led to
traffic jams and hampered the task of search and rescue. Beginning Oct. 2, entry to the affected area was controlled to allow entrance only to government personnel and members of volunteer organizations. The task of search and rescue became extremely difficult due to the heavy rains, which immediately followed the earthquake and the enormous quantities of the rubble. In places 2-3 m of rubble has to be removed to extricate the bodies. The narrow village streets were choked by fallen rubble, which further hampered rescue operations.
Mass cremations that were held on the first two days after the earthquake were done without adequate record keeping. This led to confusion about the actual number of deaths. At one time, the newspapers were reporting up to 30000 dead. Later it was discovered that about 9000 fatalities actually occurred.
Recovery
Medical Aid: The number of injured in Maharashtra was about 15500. About 50 mobile teams of doctors were pressed into service; at least – doctor was made available at each of the affected villages. The 125 beds civil hospital at Latur had to convert the nearby Rajasthan School into a hospital ward to care for about 300 indoor patients. On the other hand, the rural medical college and hospital at Ambe Jogai, which is only 60km from Latur, had a 510-bed capacity but only had 86 patients maximum at any given time. On the whole, in a few days, there were more government and private doctors available than could be used.
Food, water, Provisions: Cooked food was provided in the affected villages during the first fortnight by large number of voluntary agencies and the army. After 15 days the community kitchens were closed. Enough rations and other provisions to last a month were provided to the people, requiring them to cook their own food.
Drinking water was supplied regularly by mobile water carrying units, generally one for each village, requisitioned from the neighbouring districts. Water storage tanks (5000 l), donated by UNICEF/CARE, were being used for storing water in villages. In some villages, these tanks were lying upside down while quite a few were still resting in storage yards, indicating excess availability of the tanks. A total of 227 water hand pumps in the earthquake-affected areas of the Latur district were found operative.
Simultaneously, a program for installation of tube wells in the temporary settlements was initiated. In the Latur district, 83 deep-bore wells at the temporary shelter sites needed to be dug. 47 of these had been completed by Oct 19. For this task, eleven deep-bore rigs were mobilized from the other districts of Maharashtra.
The government and several voluntary agencies distributed clothes and household goods like utensils, stoves, storage cans, and provisions for daily needs, either through the administration or directly. A team consisting of an officer from the administration, an officer from the police, and a local head of the village issued every affected family a “family card” and every affected person an “individual card” to record and regulate the goods distributed as a relief aid. This, to a large extent, systematized the relief distribution.
Spontaneous offers of aid were received from within the country and outside. Bombay International Airport
made special arrangements to receive and clear planeloads of clothes, medicine, tents and food. Within about 3 weeks, the relief material available was somewhat in excess of the needs.
Temporary Shelter: Immediate shelter was provided by erecting temporary galvanized iron sheet houses. Each shelter consisted of 5 units of about 15 m2 areas each; each affected family was offered one such unit. Common toilets and hand operated bore wells were provided. Some families chose to take tents and tin sheets instead and made their own shelters.
Resettlement and Housing: A large number of villages which were totally destroyed are being relocated to places not far away. Most of the sites for relocation have been identified. Every affected family will be provided a housing unit with a covered area of 20, 40 or 60 m2 (depending on the needs of the family) and an open area of 15 to 45 m2 for animal shelters and future extensions.