Judgement of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Bharatkumar K. Patel Vs MoEF Ors. regarding proposed 5000 hectare port based multi-product SEZ in Kandla and Tuna area of Gandhidham, Bhuj, Gujrat. Original Source: http://www.greentribunal.gov.in/judgment/552013(App)(WZ)_13Dec2013_final_order.pdf
The Bhuj earthquake was something of a watershed in Indian disaster preparedness. Several state governments, most so in the Northeast, and various central ministries were shocked into a comprehension of the dangers. However, national capital New Delhi, which is under perpetual latent seismic threat, is blissfully unattended. Neither the local …
IT IS ironic that earthquakes should extract such a high human cost in India, which pioneered the framing of building codes for seismic areas in 1962. When the Japanese city of Kobe was rocked in 1995, the death toll was 6,400 as compared to about 30,000 lives lost during the …
A year has passed. But Gujarat remains shaky in more ways than one. Metaphorically, its residents are struggling to come to grips with the devastation caused by the January 26, 2001, earthquake. In a literal sense, too, the ground beneath their feet is anything but terra firma. Sample this. Junagarh …
A year down the road, the quake-ravaged Gujarat has undergone more than a cosmetic change. In Ahmedabad, the debris has been cleared. Buildings that collapsed in a roar of brick and mortar are being pieced together again. And makeshift structures have sprung up. But the scars are yet to heal. …
Dhanna Lal, a casual labourer with the Airport Authority of India's Pratapgarh (Rajasthan) office, believes that earthquakes are a cosmic curse. So when his dried village well, some 300 km away from Bhuj, was filled with water immediately after the earthquake, he was baffled. Similar stories abound in even parched …
There cannot be a bigger irony. As the nation was preparing to smugly display its military might and scientific prowess on Republic Day, a mighty earthquake flattened a large part of Gujarat. The quake, however, did not quite shake the ruling elite, who till afternoon participated in the long ceremonial …
D eath and earthquakes do not come by appointment. However, an earthquake gives definitive indications of its arrival. In Gujarat, there were many. A 4.2 magnitude quake rocked the Rann of Kachhch on December 24, 2000. Its epicentre was 22 km away from Bhuj. Bhavnagar, near Bhuj, also felt several …
T he Gujarat earthquake has proved that even in the highly seismic zones like Bhuj, Uttarakhand and the Northeast, our preparedness and crisis management is a monumental failure. Bhuj is one of the 13 hotspots on India's seismic hazard map that was prepared three years ago. The assessment was that …
