It is only when you are hit by a storm that you realise how harmful it can be! The storms that have been hitting Gurgaon in the recent days have wreaked havoc in various places. Yesterday's storm hit a neighbouring building with a catastrophic effect blowing away the entire tin roof of tenements hired to different families. I did hear a loud bang in the middle of the night but then dismissed it as some kind of harmless noise and went off to sleep. Morning, however, a horrifying sight devastation, scattered bricks on the road, debris, the tin roof partly supported by high tension electricity cables passing close to the building, clothes scattered on the ground, a lone shoe amidst the debris, and the strangest of all, the image of a ceiling fan hanging from a pole that had been blown on to the roof of the first floor house of my uncle's house.
A lot of damage can be avoided only if one sticks to accepted building norms. Flimsy construction, the use of tin roofs poorly anchored hoardings, and the existence of high tension cables close to the homes can all be a great danger in times of storms and other natural calamities. Government agencies often turn a blind eye at substandard building construction with the result that incidents such as these can happen.
The impact of natural disasters can be mitigated through a little more thoughtfulness both in the common citizens as well as civic agencies. Town planning should take into consideration natural disasters and evacuation and rescue operations. Dilapidated buildings need to be either renovated or else demolished, and the same should be done for poorly constructed buildings.
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