Today, we are obsessed with development and expansion of cities and towns and in doing so we do not concentrate on the planned preparedness. The planned preparedness would mean not to worry on the size or degree of landslides, floods or earthquakes. The planned preparedness mainly would mean to reduce the loss. Measures sans such approach will only continue to invite situation similar to the Phesama one. Regarding this village incident, the government is partly to be blamed for the hardship faced by the people.Phesama village perches on the hill-lock of loose soil. Concerned authorities would have built retaining walls in vulnerable locations to at least minimise the loss in time of landslides or earthquakes. Or, they should advise or warn or even ban the villagers from constructing heavy structures or even ask them to shift the location of the village site altogether if measures are going to have little effect. Such dealings come under the ambit of planned preparedness. This drill is very important for a place like Nagaland where most of our towns and villages are floated on the surface of loose earth. It is said that landslide and earthquake are calamities which are said to be the most difficult things for the experts to predict. Because of this reason earthquakes and landslides kill and destroy. In fact, earthquakes do not kill. It is the collapsing of weak structures that takes lives. Given this reality we do not have to rely on the experts. The authorities should take up measures while identifying structures that are fit to be dismantled. Faulty constructions and designing should be dealt as per the laid guidelines. Sadly, we have authorities only armed with debris clearing gears. Fortunately, our town like Kohima has not experienced a measure landslide or an earthquake of high magnitude in this generation. But it is high time the authorities work to find ways to mitigate the impact of deadly calamity. Regarding the quake threat, Kohima is one state that stands at the high risk seismic zone of being devastated by the earthquake, according to experts. It is also one town that is built on loose soil. If the Nepal case is not loud enough to alert our authorities they will forever remain unprepared. It is not impossible to remain prepared for such eventuality. We see the Japan situation. Authorities in Japan go by the tag that preparedness is the sole key to facing earthquakes. Under this tag the construction companies are given standing instructions within which they should exercise their rhymes and designs. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake of Nepal that killed over 10,000 people would have killed just a dozen people in Japan or in Paris. This is possible because of the planned preparedness.
