A highrise in the city. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Dec. 14: The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has decided to engage civil engineers to conduct a survey of earthquake risk and vulnerability assessment of buildings in the city.

Guwahati is one of the 38 cities in the country identified as lying in highly active seismic zones. The Centre has directed the state government to take necessary precautionary measures for disaster management.

Based on the survey, the GMDA will prepare a list of high-rise buildings in the city, which would need a detailed assessment of their vulnerability. The survey will begin from the first week of January and is targeted to be completed within two months.

Chief executive officer of the GMDA J. Shyamla Rao said initially 10 to 12 volunteers with engineering degrees, divided into four groups, would carry out the survey. It will be based on parameters set by a four-member committee, headed by assistant professor of IIT Guwahati, H.K. Deb.

In the first phase, public buildings like hospitals and schools and some private buildings of over three-storied will be surveyed, GMDA town planner Dalim Gogoi said. Heights of buildings, conditions of the structure, breadth of the approach roads and availability of the open space will be verified according to a format prepared by the committee.

“The volunteers will submit their findings on the basis of visual survey, to the committee and after examining the findings the committee would earmark the buildings which would require thorough investigation,” Gogoi said.

Before carrying out the survey volunteers would be given training for a week on how to carry out the survey, Rao added.

The GMDA has decided to carry out the survey considering the vulnerability of the city to earthquakes.

The development authority has also modified the building bylaws for regulation of multi-storeyed buildings.

The modifications in the bylaws have been made as per the recommendations of a committee, headed by former vice-chancellor of Gauhati University N.K. Choudhary. The bylaws however, could not be notified as the court has put a stay on it following objections raised by a section of the people about the new regulations.

At a recent meeting, the GMDA officials discussed how the approach lanes and bylanes of many high-rise buildings in the city could be expanded. This is because the narrow approach to most of these high-rises could deter rescue operation in case of any disaster.

Nearly a million of state’s total population of 22 million people live in Guwahati.

Considered as one of the fastest growing cities in the country, the city has witnessed a boom in multi-storeyed construction over the past few years with many people moving into high-rise buildings from their traditional “Assam-type” houses.

With the assistance of the UNDP, the GMDA, which has been recently made the nodal agency for disaster management in the city, has also undertaken earthquake risk-management programme. According to the programme, the GMDA would conduct public awareness campaign by distributing pamphlets and booklets on earthquake resistance technology.

The entire Northeast is considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world. This belt had experienced India’s worst quake, measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, in 1897. The last massive quake to hit the city was on August 15, 1950, measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale.