The government definition of development is a big joke. And that is the real problem. Development that is developed without safety measures is no development. What is that government proclamation of progress and development to the people if they are constantly disturbed by the thought of flood, fire, storm and earthquake? It will be hard for the establishment to attract public appreciations as long as they do not allow themselves the fertility of innovation. Today, the government is obsessed with the so called development—read expansion of cities and towns—and in doing so it does not concentrate on the aspect of planned preparedness.Planned preparedness would mean not to worry on the size or degree of landslides, floods or earthquakes. Planned preparedness mainly would mean a measure to reduce the loss. One sad thing is—after every natural calamity, there will be gimmicks displayed by the authority, but in no time things will go back to usual state of affair, until the next calamity. In response to certain calamities—as we know landslide and earthquake are calamities which are said to be the most difficult things for the experts to predict. So to remain prepared is the sole answer to the problem. In fact, earthquakes do not kill. It is the collapsing of weak structures that takes lives. Though it sounds practically absurd but one thing we can suggest is that the authorities should also take up measures by 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 major 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 town 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 saw the Japan situation—authorities in that country 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 planned preparedness.
