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Quake-proof houses for Kashmiris
by Bilal Butt

     Srinagar: India will build quake proof houses in its devastated Kashmir and train construction labourers in hi- tech designs and technology to repair the picturesque Himalayan state where more than 1,300 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless by the October 8 earthquake. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced this decision here on Friday after being given an update on the prevailing situation on ground in the state. The federal government, under the Natural Calamity Relief Fund has also released 1.16 crore for the immediate restoration of essential services and providing financial assistance to the quake affected people of Uri, Tangdhar and Poonch, the worst affected regions. "We will make free demonstration centres where engineers will make models and those models will be followed by engineers and masons in Kashmir. They will be trained here on how to erect quake proof houses in the region," Azad told reporters.

     Last Saturday's 7.6 magnitude earthquake was centred about 95 kms north-east of Islamabad in Muzaffarabad. Around 300 people died in Uri, the last big town in India on the highway connecting the two sides of Kashmir, where hundreds of wood and stone houses caved in when the tremors struck. Mufti Mohammad Syed, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said each household would be adequately compensated. "We have decided that from the package announced by the Prime Minister, we will give 1,00,000 rupees to those whose houses have collapsed. We will try that on earthquake prone areas, designs and models will be given to the victims separately according to their convenience so that they can rebuilt their houses there," he said.

     Rescuers continue to scour the rubble in frontier villages of Kashmir for survivors even six days after the quake. Relief workers, mostly the soldiers of the Indian Army are trekking many kilometres to reach remote villages, rendered more inaccessible due to quake-triggered landslides. The border areas of Uri, Kupwara and Baramullah in Kashmir are worst hit, with many houses buried under landslides and others developing cracks. Thousands of people are still missing, presumed to be dead. Saturday's huge quake and string of aftershocks were felt across much of northern India, including the capital, New Delhi. The Indian subcontinent is prone to earthquakes. About 20,000 people were killed in January 2001 when a quake measuring 7.7 struck India's western state of Gujarat.

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