Frequent Tremors Wrecking Havoc on Kashmiris’ Mental Health

It is shocking time of earthquakes in India’s border State of Jammu and Kashmir, bordering Pakistan and China, where frequent tremors are wrecking their mental health. The panic of earthquakes is so extreme on the psyche of the people that they discuss nothing other than earthquakes and tremors. The people have a reason to get frightened, since they are witness to the devastating earthquake of October 2005 that killed thousands of people in this State, a part of which is under the occupation of Pakistan.

Since February 20 till date, ten tremors have already rattled the Valley of Kashmir and its Ladakh region with rumours agog that such shocks are the coming events casting their shadows, as quake-phobia people, who are tremendously under the influence of rumourmongers and their opinions, blindly believe that a particular area of the State is likely to be devastated on a particular day!

An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale struck China on the morning of March 21, at around 0333 Hrs (Indian Standard Time) and numerous aftershocks were also felt of magnitude greater than five. The epicentre of the earthquake was located in XINJIANG-XIZANG border region of China and the shocks were felt in Leh and Srinagar cities of Jammu and Kashmir as well.

On March 16, 2008 a tremor was felt in South Kashmir. It was measured at 3.5 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was located at 33.7.N, 75.3E. Although there were no reports of any loss yet the people had a reason to nourish the earthquake phobia. It was State’s Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, who too spoke about the earthquakes at a seminar in Jammu University on March 22, while appealing geologists to provide details about the quacks well in advance so that human loss and other damages could be minimized.

With certain areas of Jammu and Kashmir falling in Seismic Zone-V (prone to earthquakes) and in absence of proper disaster management and adequate knowledge about the quakes, the people while going down the memory lane and recalling the after-shocks of October 2005 quake, are this time cooking up the stories according to their own tastes and making wild guesses while depending upon rumourmongers and their “inputs”

Aamir Ali, project coordinator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Disaster Management in the Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir says that no earthquake can be predicted and further earthquakes have been occurring in Kashmir since times immemorial. It was way back in 1555 and 1885, when two major earthquakes had destroyed present apple town of Sopore. Many more such earthquakes have also been recorded in Kashmir and experts term them a routine one in hilly areas.

But then few people are not ready to subscribe to the scientific theory. They “foresee” that the valley is under some “evil force” and that is why the area experienced tremors on February 20, 24 and 25, two on March 1 around midnight and 2pm, one on March 16 and some shocks on March 20.

Ironically, there is no full-fledged and well-established department of disaster management operating in J&K. It is in absence of proper guidance and awareness through mass media in the state that the people are ill informed about tackling such calamities.

Aamir Ali is, however, one such individual, who of his own has been taking lot of pains in making public aware about necessary precautions, particularly at the times of tremors and the aftershocks. Urging people not to get panicky and further not to lend ear to such rumours, Aamir, however, admits that people have to accept that they are living in earthquake-prone state where tremors can be felt any moment. “But no one knows when, where and what will be their magnitude,” Aamir Ali says, while literally making people ready to welcome such quakes any time. “We cannot stop an earthquake but we can prepare ourselves as the people of Japan have been doing.

Aamir says there is nothing like “evil force” hovering over J&K. Armed with facts and figures, he says that deadly earthquakes can take place anywhere. On January 26, 1991, when an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude hit Bhuj- Gujarat (India), 20,023 people had died. Over 2, 27,000 people died due to December 26, 2004 Sumatra earthquake, which was 9.1 on the Richter scale and around a lakh people died due to the 7.4 magnitude Muzaffarabad ( Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) earthquake of October 8, 2005.

All these earthquakes, Aamir says, had one thing in common. They took the society by surprise, rendering hundreds of thousands homeless and tens of thousands dead, accompanied by massive local economic losses.

Aamir is, however, feeling shot of words vis-à-vis rumourmongers and their die-hard followers!