Municipal Affairs Dept. to bring updated building bye-laws for Nagaland soon: NSDMA

KOHIMA, OCTOBER 22: While Nagaland is situated in Seismic Zone-V and is highly vulnerable to natural calamities, the State Government is in the process of bringing out an updated and new Building Laws for structural safety, said Joint CEO of NSDMA Johnny Ruangmei.

“We have the Nagaland Bye-laws notified but looking at the pattern of building codes not being adhered to, a committee has been constituted under the Department of Municipal Affairs to bring out an updated version of the building bye-laws soon”, Ruangmei said while addressing a press conference at Capital Convention Centre here after the day’s Table Top Exercise on Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx) 2024.

The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Home Department, will conduct the 7th edition of annual NEPEx on October 24 from 9:30 a.m. where physical participation at all levels will be conducted in the State capital and also the respective district headquarters with the sounding of an emergency siren.

In the absence of local building bye-laws, the National Building Code has been put in place, he said, adding that once the updated bye-laws are out, if the owner does not follow the laid down rules, the common services would not be provided.

The bye-laws will be for the general welfare, he said.

Expounding on the benefit of conducting such exercise on an annual basis, the Joint CEO said during the first exercise the State had faced the difficulty of even the functioning of the line Departments but over the

years they have overcome the problem and now each Department knows their role in any major disaster that hits the State.

“We are in a better position to handle disaster now”, he said.

The big message for NEPEx this year is to push an envelope of future resilient infrastructure and economy for Nagaland, said Ruangmei.

Lead Coordinator for NEPEx 2024 Maj Gen Sudhir Bahl (Retd), Senior Consultant (ME & IRS) of National Disaster Management Authority, said that earthquake cannot be predicted and the only way to reduce the losses and damages is to stay prepared and that is the importance of this NEPEx.

Community response is the best initial responder and unless the community is empowered the disaster situation would be worse, he said while opining that the Municipal Department has to be intimately involved in the preparedness to face disaster.

He also stressed the importance of real-time simulations involving all stakeholders including the Medical, Fire & Emergency and PWD Departments.

Looking at a resilient Nagaland, there has to be a proper building bye-law, he said while also calling for sensitization among the Nagas.

He said that NEPEx is only a mock drill to test the capability of the State to respond to any event of disaster, simulating a major earthquake scenario.

Observers from the Indian Army, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) are already in the State to monitor the exercise, the Joint CEO said.

(Page News Service)