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Indian Quake Shakes Up Fear of Dam Collapse by Tara Chand Malhotra , Environment News Service (ENS) - 1 February 2001 As India struggles to come to grips with devastation and loss after the worst earthquake in living memory, critics of a controversial dam on the Narmada River warn that it is located in a seismically active zone of Gujarat state.The earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck Gujarat on Friday morning. The death toll in the quake could rise to 100,000, according to India's Defence Minister, George Fernandes. The epicenter of the quake was near the city of Bhuj, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Narmada Valley where the Sardar Sarovar dam is located. The level of this dam is currently being raised over the protests of environmentalists and human rights organizations. Chief minister of Gujarat state, Keshubhai Patel, said work on the dam will continue. Enough care has been taken to prevent the dam from collapsing if an earthquake occurs, he said. The Sardar Sarovar dam did not sustain any damage in Friday's earthquake, state officials said. "There are no cracks in the dam. It is fine," said a spokesman for Patel. The foremost group working against the dam, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), expressed concern about the safety of building such a huge dam in a seismically active zone. The group has urged the government to reconsider its decision to increase the height of the dam. The Indian Supreme Court recently ruled that the state government may immediately increase the height of the dam up to 90 meters (293 feet), and may build it higher if necessary. The dam will generate electricity and the collected waters will be used for irrigation and drinking water. The Sardar Sarovar dam is the largest of 30 large dams planned for the Narmada River. The controversial project, costing over Rs 180 billion (US$3.91 billion), is sponsored by the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. has been set up by the government of Gujarat as a 100 percent government owned company to implement the project. The Gujarat government has announced plans to increase the height of the dam to 135 meters (439 feet), submerging large areas of the Narmada Basin. Temple in Bhuj destroyed by Friday's quake. All of the 150,000 residents of Bhuj are homeless after the quake reduced most of the city's buildings to rubble. Shripad Dharmadhikary of NBA said, "The Bhuj quake has again sent a warning signal to all those dam supporters to rethink and take measures now." Dharmadhikary said the Supreme Court did not give any direction to the state governments to increase the height of the dam. It had only told the state government it could go ahead with the project, and left it to the state to make a policy decision on the issue. The Supreme Court order did not have unanimous support of the three judge bench. In his dissenting opinion Justice S.P. Bharucha wrote, "Environment studies have not been done properly and the norms of environment have been flouted totally. No proper research was done and new research needs to be done immediately.’’ NBA's Dharmadhikary said if the dam is extended to 135 meters and a quake occurred, it would be devastating for people of the area. Water stored in the dam would engulf nearly 230 villages downstream, submergin parts of Baroda, Narmada and Bharuch districts. Several chemical and industrial units are located in the region and it would result in an "unimaginable environmental catastrophe," Dharmadhikary said. Medha Patkar, one of the commissioners of the World Commission on Dams, is one of the most outspoken critics of the Sardar Sarovar dam. Speaking to a group in the Narmada Valley on Sunday, she called for more research on the connection between large dams and earthquakes. "After the Latur earthquake [in 1993], many organisations and experts have insisted on the fresh mapping of the earthquake prone zones in India. Over 500 scientists are reported have prepared a report on hazards after seven years of research. This has to be converted into the risk areas and definite measures need to be taken. This has yet to be done," she said. Critics fear that the weight of the large reservoir of water impounded behind the dam might destabilize the earth below in this seismologically sensitive and geologically disturbed area. The phenomenon is known as reservoir induced seismicity (RIS). The stored water may seep into the earth and change the stresses upon the tectonic plates beneath. This pressure could facilitate tectonic movement and trigger earthquakes. Professor Harsh Gupta, a geologist with the National Geophysical Research Institute, has written that the best known site of a reservoir induced earthquake in the world is at Koyna in Maharashtra state. There a reservoir induced quake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale occurred, and tremors still occur regularly. There are a dozen other sites in Indaa vulnerable to RIS, Gupta said. But Dr. J.G. Negi, scientist emeritus at the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad, has written that he finds no evidence of any direct relationship between earthquakes and dams. There are only four instances in support of the theory of reservoir induced earthquakes, and science has not yet been able to establish a concrete link between the two, Negi said. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers to monitor the situation in quake ravaged Gujarat. It is headed by Home Minister L.K. Advani. The group will have the power to issue "appropriate directions" on the basis of the reports of the Crisis Management Group. The empowered group includes the ministers of defence, finance, railways, agriculture, textiles, power, communications, health and family welfare and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. An estimated 300,000 people are in urgent need across Gujarat, and the relief and rehabilitation effort is expected to last at least four months.
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