NEW DELHI: Delhi fire chief A K Sharma, spelling out his forces' preparation to fight natural and "manmade" disasters in the year ahead, on Wednesday said "a city that falls in seismic zone 4 can ill-afford haphazardly planned buildings.
"At a time when Japan is witnessing so many earthquakes and even Delhi is facing major upheavals, we need to take all the preventive measures. A building certified by a structural engineer will at least come with the guarantee that it will not collapse if the earthquake is not that severe. We need to increase our capacity building techniques by employing more engineers. The insistence on getting this certificate will ultimately serve the city better," said Sharma. His observations come at a time when there are reports that chief minister Sheila Dixit might roll back her decision to get buildings certified after pressure from several quarters including the MCD.
Sharma said the first phase of a 'random' survey of the city found 2,377 buildings in violation of safety norms. "We served show-cause notices. However, till now only 527 buildings complied with the fire safety requirements and 748 high-rises converted to low-rise. Electricity and water were were disconnected from 930 buildings," said Sharma. He, however, acknowledged "that a lot more had to be done to protect the city and bring down fatalities".
Earlier, the fire department unveiled the new Innova models which will be used as a backup this summer. "The cars come fitted with two water cylinders worth nine litres each, thermal imaging cameras (to locate remote fires), cutting equipment and two firefighters. This will help us stop small fires at shops, buses and even cars and control them before they turn fatal. This comes in the wake of the motorcycle tenders which we introduced in the Old Delhi area more than a year ago. These motorcycles responded to 117 calls this year and was successful in bringing down loss of life and property in the Old Delhi and Laxmi Nagar area," said Sharma.
The year from March 2010 to March 2011 saw DFS responding to 22,187 calls as compared to 21,314 calls in the previous one year. A total of 2,613 people (including victims of accidents and building cave-ins) were left injured while the maximum of 447 deaths were recorded this year, the highest in the past five years, up from 272 in the year 2004-05. "The 80 deaths from the Lalita Park collapse has helped increase the tally," claimed the fire chief.
"At a time when Japan is witnessing so many earthquakes and even Delhi is facing major upheavals, we need to take all the preventive measures. A building certified by a structural engineer will at least come with the guarantee that it will not collapse if the earthquake is not that severe. We need to increase our capacity building techniques by employing more engineers. The insistence on getting this certificate will ultimately serve the city better," said Sharma. His observations come at a time when there are reports that chief minister Sheila Dixit might roll back her decision to get buildings certified after pressure from several quarters including the MCD.
Sharma said the first phase of a 'random' survey of the city found 2,377 buildings in violation of safety norms. "We served show-cause notices. However, till now only 527 buildings complied with the fire safety requirements and 748 high-rises converted to low-rise. Electricity and water were were disconnected from 930 buildings," said Sharma. He, however, acknowledged "that a lot more had to be done to protect the city and bring down fatalities".
Earlier, the fire department unveiled the new Innova models which will be used as a backup this summer. "The cars come fitted with two water cylinders worth nine litres each, thermal imaging cameras (to locate remote fires), cutting equipment and two firefighters. This will help us stop small fires at shops, buses and even cars and control them before they turn fatal. This comes in the wake of the motorcycle tenders which we introduced in the Old Delhi area more than a year ago. These motorcycles responded to 117 calls this year and was successful in bringing down loss of life and property in the Old Delhi and Laxmi Nagar area," said Sharma.
The year from March 2010 to March 2011 saw DFS responding to 22,187 calls as compared to 21,314 calls in the previous one year. A total of 2,613 people (including victims of accidents and building cave-ins) were left injured while the maximum of 447 deaths were recorded this year, the highest in the past five years, up from 272 in the year 2004-05. "The 80 deaths from the Lalita Park collapse has helped increase the tally," claimed the fire chief.
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