Disaster Management Act, 2005
A COMPREHENSIVE document containing all modalities with regard to the implementation of the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005 will be finalised within next fortnight. The document will be submitted to the Central Government for necessary action.
A senor professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-K) and one of the five members to the National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) CVR Murty said that the object of preparing the modalities was to ensure earthquake resistant buildings in the country to minimise the loss to property and the live in the event of earthquake.
He said though the Act was passed by Parliament in December 2005, but its implementation could not be enforced till date due to several legal and technical complexities. He said the members of the National Disaster Management Council have met to lay down the guidelines and policies on several occasions and obta-
ined the expert advice of the civil engineers. The final meeting in this regard was likely to be held at Mumbai on July 28 this year, he added.
Referring to the meeting of National Disaster Management Council held at IIT-K on July 17, Professor Murty said that expert civil engineers from UP, Chandigargh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan had attended it and gave valuable suggestions for enforcing the Act. He said one of the members of the National Disaster Management Council Vinod Chand Menon was present at the meeting.
{{/usCountry}}Referring to the meeting of National Disaster Management Council held at IIT-K on July 17, Professor Murty said that expert civil engineers from UP, Chandigargh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan had attended it and gave valuable suggestions for enforcing the Act. He said one of the members of the National Disaster Management Council Vinod Chand Menon was present at the meeting.
{{/usCountry}}Professor Murty and Menon informed the participants at the meeting that at the initial stage about 44 earthquake-prone districts have been identified throughout the country where the provisions of the Act were to be implemented through the State governments.
Unless the State Government agreed to enforce the Act it would not be possible to reap the desired results, they said.
The members said that under the Act it has become mandatory for the development authorities of the districts to issue no objection certificate to builder after ensuring that all the necessary cautions for constructing an earthquake resistant building were taken and the building was being constructed as per the rules of the Act.
Professor Murty further said that National Disaster Management Council has also been working on modalities to contain the flood havoc in the flood-prone areas and to strengthen the scientific institutes.
Referring to the recent earthquake in Indonesia and the attack of tsunami waves in Java Island, he said this had no bearing on the Indian continent. Since the tsunami waves had their genesis in the South Pole, they were too weak to hit this country.