Patna: District magistrate Kumar Ravi stressed the need to make all buildings quake-resistant while speaking to 37 masons who are undergoing training in the district.

The Bihar State Disaster Management Authority is conducting the training. "Patna has been converted into a concrete jungle. An earthquake of magnitude 6 will spell disaster here," the district magistrate said, recalling that many in Patna had left their homes to live on open fields during the 2015 quake.

Ravi said a list of 30 experienced masons from each circle had been sent to the disaster management authority and they will be trained on making buildings quake-resistant.

He asked masons to seek cooperation from house owners, stressing that the cost of the house will rise marginally, by 2 to 3 per cent if it was made quake-resistant. He said even old houses could be made quake-resistant if modified. He said people die in quakes not because of the quake itself but because houses collapse.

Ravi said that with all government houses being made quake-resistant it is important that all private houses should follow.

He said with 100 experienced masons being trained to build quake-resistant houses, the concept of making such houses should catch on.

He said in Supaul as many as 25,000 houses for the poor had been made both quake- and flood-resistant. Bihar being flood and quake-prone, safer houses would play a big role in the safety of lives.

Several other officials of the district administration and the authority spoke on the occasion. The training given in a government building near R-Block will last till February 11. The masons have been selected from various blocks of Patna district.