Editorial: Any Wiser?

As the State completes a year since the 18 September 2011 earthquake, it becomes necessary for Sikkim and its people to make some honest appraisals of their preparedness. It should not be so, because, given that the Sikkimese have lived with earthquakes ever since they have inhabited Sikkim, they, along with other communities living along the Himalaya, should instead have been much-sought after resource persons to prepare others on how to mitigate natural disasters. That is obviously not the case, hence, the trigger of a 6.8 on the Richter Scale earthquake, the severest that the Sikkim Himalaya has pushed in recorded history, is required to fire awareness and involvement.
But even that does not seem to be working.
The minor temblor which began the final countdown for the first anniversary candlelight vigils across the State on Tuesday spread easy panic... at least in Gangtok. The 18 September 2011 experience was harrowing and nerves were expected to be on edge on its first anniversary, hence the panic which followed the anniversary rattle. And in how most of the capital reacted, one finds areas which unfortunately still need work. Earthquake do’s and don’ts were forgotten even before the earthquake shudder had subsided, and Gangtok ended up doing everything that experts advise against in the event of an earthquake. A majority of the people rushed out, a potentially dangerous undertaking in areas which had suffered a power blackout and downright reckless in the rush with which people trooped out. Expect those around MG Marg, other Gangtokians did not have convenient open spaces to take the footfalls safely and soon people were spilling over from footpaths on to the highway, which, like always had an abundance of reckless and inconsiderate drivers; their screeching brakes and persistent honking adding to the confusion. The earthquake was very slight, so there were obviously no worries of any damage having been caused, but given its timing, concerned authorities should have tried harder to inform and reassure people. Sikkim is not serviced by 24x7 news channels, but still needs to be updated in real-time in times of emergency and yesterday’s episode, although not an emergency or disaster, provided a good opportunity to try out alternate communication models. And mobile phones are not an option, because lines clogged after the flutter. Some other options need to considered.
So, what Sikkim is essentially looking at is a population still at risk of causing itself harm [through panic responses] in the event of a natural disaster and an administration still slow on the uptake. It is also obvious that the State still awaits a customised and practical disaster preparedness plan. Much noise can be expected in the coming months about how the government has rebuilt and rehabilitated, and most of the fulmination will be politically leveraged. One must bear in mind that rebuilding and rehabilitation is a process which will progress and slow down depending on the status of funds and motivation of concerned officials. It will however eventually be completed, its quality decided by how involved the stakeholders are in the process. What will really decide how Sikkim pulls through the next major natural disaster will not be how well it repairs, but the preparedness levels of its people in general and its officials and social organisations in particular. The tremor which registered at 5:56 p.m. on 18 Sept 2012 should be received as a reminder of the pending tasks and not as a tectonic ploy which ensured that the candlelight vigil planned for MG Marg a few minutes later received a packed participation instead of what was panning out to be an embarrassing low turnout...