JAMMU: Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly – National Conference (NC) – on Sunday asked the ruling government to file a detailed response to a recent study by United States based scientists that claimed to have found that Riasi (Reasi) fault had developed pressure over last four-thousand years and it posed a threat of a major earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or higher. The government reportedly decided to form an expert team to study the report.
Yann Gavillot, lead author on the study, recently said, “What we found was that the Riasi fault is one of the main active faults in Kashmir, but there is a lack of earthquakes in the more recent geologic record. The fault hasn’t slipped for a long time, which means the potential for a large earthquake is strong. It’s not a question of if it’s going to happen. It’s a matter of when.”
Provincial President of National Conference – Devender Singh Rana – said a ‘scary psychosis’ was prevailing after the appearance of the report about the study, which said the earthquake could impact over half a million peopleRana reportedly raised the concern during a District Development Board meeting in Jammu, which was chaired by Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh.
Expressing the need for strengthening disaster management mechanism in Jammu region, Rana said ‘unprecedented panic’ had gripped in the city and its peripheries and therefore the government must spell out measures in order to instil confidence in general public.
According to a statement issued by the opposition party, the Deputy Chief Minister ‘appreciated’ the concern and asked the Chief Secretary to have an expert team constituted to study the report and suggest necessary measures to meet any exigency.