Dotted with over 1,100 high-rise buildings, the city will soon have a hi-tech early earthquake warning and security system that raises an alarm and also shuts down lifts, gas supply, electricity, and activate other security systems connected with it.
The second of its kind in Haryana, the new system will help safeguard the city which sits on a tectonic fault line – a geographical detail that could see Bhuj-like devastation in Gurgaon. The devastating quake that hit Gujarat in 2001 killed more than 13,000 people and damaged lakhs of homes.
The recent Nepal earthquakes that were felt across the northern Indian belt didn’t cause any damage, but were a rude reminder of the region’s vulnerability.
“We hope to get the system installed this month. There was need of such a system in Gurgaon as the region (National Capital Region) falls in high risk seismic zone IV making it highly vulnerable to earthquakes,” Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) director general, SP Gupta, told Hindustan Times.
Costing Rs 40 lakh, the system will be installed by the state-run HIPA at its premises in sector 18, and will have an indoor alarm system. It will later be upgraded to a public siren system. The siren system will send alarms up to a radius of six kilometres and caution people within 30 seconds of tremors. However, these alarms cost more than an indoor alarm system, and so the upgrade will be after an initial testing phase.
The new secretariat in Chandigarh is the other place in the state that is equipped with the warning and security system.
The last time Gurgaon felt a strong quake was in August 1960. A mere village at the time, Gurgaon didn’t suffer much damage from the 6.0 magnitude quake. But more than five decades of development has seen the place grow into a hub with many major corporate offices located in tall multi-storeyed buildings.
Gupta said warning system could help in quick rescue and better coordination during an earthquake as the secondary waves are the ones which prove more fatal.
To implement the system, the HIPA director general wrote to the Haryana town and country planning department and Urban local bodies in April to immediately carry out mandatory structural audits of all buildings – government and private – in all cities of the state and to start the practice from Gurgaon.
“Warning time depends on location of epicentre. The best response time of the system has been 30 seconds after primary waves of earthquake,” said Abhay Kumar Shrivastava, head of HIPA’s center for disaster management.
The system is a joint venture of Terra Techcom Private Limited and German company Secty Electronics GmbH. The state government had the system tested in March at CSIR-Structural engineering and research centre, Chennai, a government official said.
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