One of the urgent tasks of relief and rescue operations in Chamoli and Rudrapayag must be to take appropriate precautions against the aftershocks of Monday night's earthquake. Scientists from the Indian Meteorological Department have warned that tremors are likely to continue for the next two months and cause the collapse of weak structures such as are quite common in hilly regions. It would be all too easy under the heavy strain of coping with the existing disaster to ignore warnings of imminent danger. The demands on the rescue operations are huge and include finding and rescuing people trapped in building debris and mudslides, tending to the injured, feeding and sheltering what may turn out to be thousands whose homes have been destroyed.
Roads have to be cleared and communications restored.
Rehabilitating the victims will make large demands on the administration. But in the midst of all this, new dangers should not be forgotten. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh should give high priority to assessing therisk of more loss of life and make plans to relocate households and even whole villages, if necessary. That will be a huge operation in itself but nothing should be taken for granted in high earthquake-prone areas, designated Zone 5 regions. Monday's quake registering 6.9 on the Richter scale with its epicentre close to Chamoli town, was one of the severest of the many visited on this country.