Residents keen to restructure their houses can now approach the Earthquake Safety Clinic and Centre at National Institute of Technology, Patna.

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi inaugurated the centre, a first-of-its-kind facility in the state, on Tuesday. The NIT-Patna is the nodal partner for the centre.

People can visit the centre on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for help in making their houses safe from earthquakes. Experts - from NIT's civil engineering department and resource persons from Bihar State Disaster Management Authority - would help reduce seismic vulnerability of buildings and provide residents information on how to restructure the buildings, including retrofitting the structures.

The opening of the centre is significant because several north Bihar districts lie in seismic zone V (high), while the south-western districts lie in zone III (moderate). The remaining districts, including Patna, fall in the high-risk zone IV.

Inaugurating the centre, Manjhi said: 'The centre would help create awareness about natural disasters.' Earlier, experts present at the event used technical words in explaining ways to reduce casualties from natural disasters but Manjhi candidly said he did not know so many words. He ordered the officials concerned to make the people aware about natural disasters.

Anil Kumar Sinha, vice-chairman of the state disaster management authority, said: 'The centre would be developed as a centre of excellence and also lead to the development of similar clinics in north Bihar.'