Earthquakes are the most disastrous of all natural calamities which destroys life and property in the shortest possible time. The recent earthquake at the Iraq-Iran border shows that earthquake is a hazard beyond human control and the only way to reduce the risk is increasing the capacity of individuals or communities to reduce the impact during an earthquake, which comes through awareness and preparedness that is the need of the hour and prompted the training and awareness session for the students of ICSK Senior on 15th November 2017.
Around 2000 students of the school attended this informative session in different batches from 7.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. in the school auditorium. About 300 batches were in attendance for the programme which was conducted by Mr.Joel D’souza, Senior PGT-Department of Geography to enlighten the students about the consequences of earthquakes and proper behaviour, response and rescue methods during and after earthquake disaster.
The session began with the basic premise that disaster management is vital because human Life is precious. The speaker imparted the information about the seismic zones of India and the level of risk involved in each of them. Similarly, he drew the attention towards Kuwait’s vulnerability to earthquake due to tectonic plate and oil extraction. Damages would be substantial even in low-intensity earthquake owing to the nature of soil and housing technology.
The students almost relived their previous day scare when they saw the videos of Nepal’s devastating experience in April of 2015. They step by step learnt how movement of earth’s plates, volcanoes and stress transfer cause earthquakes. They were surprised how human activities like fracking, ground water extraction, dams, geothermal energy too induce seismicity. They also learned about the different levels of damage and destruction to life, property, infrastructure and livelihood due to the effects of earthquakes like floods, avalanches, landslides, fires, etc.
The students learnt how to recognize an earthquake, immediate safety measures to be taken and the long-term measures of building technology that withstands earthquakes, how to ‘earthquake-proof the homes, what emergency supplies and equipment to be taken, planning before earthquakes, response during an earthquake and what not to do during an earthquake. The speaker emphasized the need for presence of mind in the event of earthquake. The disaster management, in the event of earthquake, was elucidated in the context of mitigation, preparedness, response and relief-rehabilitation.