After constructing a number of dams and hydro-electricity plants (HEPS) in Uttarakhand the Government of India is now planning to establish a nuclear power plant in Uttarakhand. According to Durgesh Rai professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of technology (IIT), most nuclear power plants of India are in weak seismic zone but lie in coastal areas but the probability of earthquake is high in Uttarakhand and setting up a nuclear power plant in this area can be devastating for the future generation.
On July 2015, an earthquake warning system (EWS) was installed in Uttarakhand Dehradun( Seismic Zone IV according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)). Uttarakhand became the first Indian State to install a system that can detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings. Another system is being installed at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand.
The system was designed and manufactured by Italian firm Space Dynamics which already installed the system in Japan, Italy and the US. The system will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before the occurrence of earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more. According to the bureau of Indian Standards, Uttarakhand falls under Seismic Zone –V, which is a zone of high seismic activity with magnitude of 6.9 or greater Richter scale.
The earthquake has always been a source of uncertainty and fear that the current society is kept on facing since era and North-India based city Utttarakhand has been a centered area for natural calamities. In June 2013 a multi-day cloudburst was centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand which caused devastating floods and destruction of lives and possession.
