list of disasters delhi has encountered over the years and it impact
Answers
Delhi has faced a number of disasters in the past.
1. Earthquake in 1803 in Mathura 145 km from Delhi : Qutb Minar had seven storeys and was 92.3 metres. The cupola on the fifth floor was thrown down, now it is only 72.5 metres in height.
2. Earthquake in Uttarkashi on 29 March 1999 : In tall buildings of Delhi windowpanes quivered and cracks appeared.
3. Floods in 1978, 1998 and 1995 : Caused widespread damage, loss of material and lives.
4. Fire tragedies : In Uphaar, a cinema hall - on 13 June 1997, in Siddhartha, a five star hotel - on 23 January 1996,
5. Fire in Indian Airlines terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on 29 October 1996 ruined property worth Rs. 155 million. Emergency telephone services, trunk dialling and computerized reservation lines were paralyzed for many days.
Floods
Nature cannot take more abuse. Hence the degradation caused to the environment of the city has to respond in terms of its wrath. Floods in Delhi are not natures wrong doing, it is invariably the irresponsibility of the authorities and those who are to tally insensitive of human life blinded by the economics of haves and have nots. This is very clear from the recurring phenomenon of floods in the mighty river Yamuna and flash floods caused by rains due to choked drains of Delhi.
earthquake
Delhi has also sustained earthquake damage in more recent times. For instance, Srivastava and Somayajulu (1966) mention of (a) Khurja earthquake (M6.7) of 10 October 1956 in which 23 persons were killed in Bulandshahr and some injured in Delhi; (b) M6.0 earthquake of 27 August 1960 near Delhi wherein about 50 persons in Delhi were injurred; and (c) an earthquake near Moradabad on 15 August 1966 that killed 14 persons in Delhi. Iyengar (2000) also mentions about damage to one of the minarets of Delhi's Jama Masjid during the M4.0 earquakes on 28 July 1994
Fire
In Delhi there has been a substantial increase in population and industrialization, since Independence. Well over 1,50,000 small scale industrial units in identified industrial units in identified industrial pockets (in addition to industries running illegally), over 1200 J.J. Clusters providing shelter to nearly one third of the population and over 3.5 million automotive vehicles have choked infrastructural services. The fast increased has not been planned for.
Risk of break in embankments
Protection from the river by embankments lead to a false sense of safety and development starts taking place in the shadow of these embankments. In the event of failure of these protective works, as has been seen in the form of breaches during past floods, the effect is devastating because the pressure of the entire embanked stretch is released at one point, and it takes the people by surprise