A powerful tremor rocked Jabalpur
and its outskirts on the wee hours of 22 May 1997 which
claimed more than 50 lives and rendered more than 6000
people homeless. The tremor originated from a place 20 km
north-east of Jabalpur at latitude 23.01 N and longitude
80.01 E with an intensity of 6.2 degrees on the Richter
Scale, lasting 52 seconds.
The quake was spread over Jabalpur, Mandla, Seoni and
Shadole districts of Madhya Pradesh. The major thrust was
in Jabalpur with Mandla district coming next. In Jabalpur
district, in addition to various areas in the city, 250
villages of Blocks Jabalpur, Panagar, Kundam and Majhouli
were badly affected. Loss of property and cattle has been
roughly estimated to be around 85 crore. 22 villages were
‘badly damaged’ out of which 8 were totally
destroyed. It has been estimated that over 25000 houses
have been destroyed in the Jabalpur area. Besides
claiming life, the quake had its destructive impact on
several buildings of historic value.
In view of the ensuing rainy season, repair and
reconstruction work needs to be done on a war footing.
The State government has announced an interim relief of
Rs 3000 to each affected family to help put up temporary
sheds.
Nine deaths were reported from the Mandla district. In
Jabalpur 19 deaths were reported from the city area and
31 from the rural areas. Over 1100 cases of injuries came
to light and in addition a good number of heart attack
cases were admitted to different hospitals. Few more
deaths were likely to take place from among the injured.
Government agencies, the Army and NGOs like Ramakrishna
Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, Mannulal Trust, CARE,
CASA, Red Cross etc. have moved in with relief
activities.
Tarun Sanskar joined hands with these organisations in
providing first aid and medical treatment, besides
supplying drugs, food and consoling the sufferers. It has
also kept close liaison with the district authorities. A
complete survey was done to assess the actual damages in
the villages falling within the Tarun Sanskar project
area in Niwas, Majhouli, Kundam, Karkeli and Dhooma
blocks.
Food, medical aid and materials for temporary shelter are
the essential items urgently required for the area. The
rains are likely to complicate the situation. Medical
Services in the area needs to be strengthened. For
long-term rehabilitation, proper houses, water supply,
employment and developmental programmes will have to be
attended to. It is hoped that the lessons learnt from
this tragedy would help plan precautionary measures for
the future.
This site would be best viewed on a Netscape 4.0 Gold or above and Microsoft IE 4.0 or above with screen settings of 800 x 600 and true colors option checked.
