Friday, October 21, 2011

“Yes, we do live with risks”

Ranjana Kumari“Yes, we do live in risks”. This is what the people of Shipgyer and Pegong villages of North Sikkim admitted during a survey conducted by Sikkim University. Both the villages lie on the right bank of the river Teesta where the maximum number of landslides (mostly earthquake induced) can be noticed.
People at both the villages fear not only the earthquake, but also the ongoing landslides and the sight of damaged houses. The imprint of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake of 18 September has shown the world the other side of this beautiful state. Even after a month of the earthquake, its fear has not left the people of North district of Sikkim. Both the places are far from any major town and have limited accessibility.
The only road connecting Toong to Chungthang connects Pegong, which every now and then gets blocked by landslides. There are about 24 fresh landslides with slope orientiation towards either east or south which are very fresh in nature triggered by the recent earthquake. The northern portion of the state is deeply cut into steep escarpments. They are moderate to strongly acidic and rich in humus. The soil in the region shows a lack of profile development. It is loamy with slight surface stoniness. These soils are moderately deep, developed on moderately steep slopes on the banks of Teesta and its tributaries in North district.
Soil acidity, soil depth, soil erosion and surface stoniness are major constraints and the main factors that trigger landslides. The rock of North Sikkim consisting of Phyllites and Schists, is highly susceptible to weathering and erosion. With the road alignments resting on this soil extensively damaged, the people used the hydel tunnels for navigation during the earthquake. Although no mishaps have occurred in the tunnels, they remain unsafe.
The dancing tremor of the earthquake over lands treated to blasting by the hydel power project has further aggravated the occurrence of landslides in the area.
The upper part of Shipgyer is located far from the only connecting road. Some of the houses are damaged severely and many of the residents feel that their houses can now collapse even under mild tremors. It was observed that the traditional houses made of wood suffered less damage compared to the new concrete structures. The residents of the severely damaged houses have taken shelter in monasteries, but till when? Still they are forced to live there as most of them don’t have any other place of residence (temporary or permanent). Although people have helped themselves to overcome the consequence of the disaster, still to a certain level, the people have not been able to reconstruct their collapsed houses which has forced them to live in fear.
It was also however found by the team members of the University that a semblance of normalcy is returning in the affected areas, their economic recovery and rehabilitation are still a far distance away. The local communities are not satisfied with damage assessment done by different organizations. It can be also assessed from group discussions, key informants interview and on-site observation that local communities were least prepared to cope with the loss and disasters resulting from an earthquake, and any jolt stronger than the one that hit Sunday evening might cause immeasurable damage to the lives and property in this part of the world. It would, therefore, be prudent to be better prepared to minimise the risks in case a quake hits the state.
[The writer is a 3rd Semester student of Geography and Natural Resources Management at Sikkim University]

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