Himachal gears up for disaster-resilient housing

To sensitise different organs about the technical expertise of the rural development department for safe housing construction, the Himachal Pradesh government is set to organise a special webinar on Tuesday.
During this year’s monsoon season, the housing sector in the hilly state suffered huge losses on account of the damage and destruction of the built-up structures.
As part of the relief and rehabilitation measures, the state government has already taken up various initiatives. In the reconstruction process, the strategies suggested by the United Nations Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction to follow “Build Back Better” (BBB) are being adopted by the government at all levels.
“The participants at all block levels would be sensitised about the Safe Construction Practices to be adopted while undertaking the reconstruction work in consonance with the “Build Back Better” strategies aiming to reduce the risk to the people and communities in the wake of future disasters and shocks,” the state government said in a release.
Eminent researchers working in this field including Ajay Chaurasia- Chief Scientist, Ashish Pipal-Scientist E and HK Jain- Technical Officer from CBRI Roorkee and Hemant Vinayak- Associate Professor from NIT Hamirpur will interact with the participants during the webinar.
DC Rana, Director cum Special Secretary (Rev-DM) in the state government, briefed that they are very concerned about this issue and are taking several measures to have disaster resilience build up the environment in the State so that the post-disaster effects are not only minimised but will also help in saving precious human lives.
Rana further informed that the state government has already issued instructions to the district administrations to reduce the existing vulnerabilities, such as poor foundations, construction on loose/unsettled soil, steep slopes and poor construction with vulnerabilities for hazards like earthquakes and should not be allowed to built-in while undertaking reconstruction work.
He also appealed to the house owners to construct hazard-resistant structures so that houses are earthquake and landslide-resistant as well and he advised the technical staff at block levels to have proper monitoring.