Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 4: Government today said the houses that were inundated for long periods in last month’s floods face threat of collapse as the soil beneath them is super-saturated with water.
Chief Engineer Roads and Buildings Department Satish Razdan said.
“Most structures look fine from appearance but there is possibility of cracks and collapses as the soil is super-saturated with water.”
Razdan said that next three months are crucial, people should be careful and watch cracks in their houses. “The residents in flood-affected areas, particularly those where water logging was for long periods, should be careful. There is a possibility of earth-sinking due to movement of water under the soil. Damages to buildings are likely to increase even after three months” Chief Engineer said some bridges sank after the floods and same can happen to houses where water logging was for longer periods. “A part of Baba Dawood Khaki bridge sank few days after flood water receded in the areas. Same is the case in Pulwama where part of a bridge sank six days after water receded.”
Razdan said that R&B’s priority was safety check of the hospitals in the flood affected areas and now the focus is schools. “We gave priority in checking the safety of hospitals. Only 15 per cent of SKIMS hospital at Bemina was declared unsafe while rest is safe for use again,” he added.
The official said thousands of school buildings were affected by the floods in Kashmir and safety check will take time. “Our engineers have multiple tasks at hand. They are part of the loss assessment teams also. It will take long time to certify all the schools affected by flood,” he added.
Chief Engineer said his department has formed five teams for certifying safety of the flood affected buildings.
Over one lakh houses were damaged in floods in Kashmir while over 1.5 lakh were partially damaged and others that were inundated face threat of developing cracks and collapse.
Razdan said nearly 600 bridges and culverts were damaged in the floods. “Of these, 181 structures including 54 bridges have collapsed completely,” he said. He said nearly 1700 kilometres of road was damaged or washed away in floods.
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