DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand government will be renovating and reconstructing over 5,000 schools in battered, dilapidated condition, mainly using bamboo, to make the buildings earthquake-resistant. A total of 4,500 schools have been categorised as vulnerable while 528 are classified as highly vulnerable.
Meenakshi Sundaram, secretary education said, “Uttarakhand Bamboo and Fiber Development Board has been roped in for the project. The methods used to renovate and build the schools again will
be time-bound and cost-effective.”
The work of reconstruction will take place in phases. The officials from the state education department said that the bamboo is being chosen given its qualities of being earthquake resistant and partly fireproof in case of any such disaster.
Uttarakhand falls in seismic zone 5 which makes the hill state vulnerable to frequent earthquakes.
As a pilot project, 100 primary schools will be reconstructed till April 2020 which are in the highly vulnerable category.
The proposal will be placed in a next cabinet meeting to get approval for all 13 districts of the hill state. However, the department has already allocated Rs 5 crore to start the work in Dehradun district. The board has began promoting almost fire, water and quake-proof reinforcement compact bamboo material also known as Bullet-proof Bamboo Board.
A study carried out by the Dehradun-based Disaster Management Mitigation Centre (DMMC) report in year 2015 had revealed that more than 15 per cent of buildings in Nainital and Mussoorie are vulnerable to earthquake. The study surveyed 3,344 structures in Mussoorie and 2,865 buildings in Nainital.