By Gajanan Khergamker
What is more alarming than the repeated tremors that have rocked Maharashtra’s Palghar district is the discrepancy between the accounts of officials at various levels and other stakeholders. The Dahanu and Talasari talukas have undergone over a 1,000 “earthquakes” since November 2018, data from National Centre for Seismology (NCS) shows.
Palghar provides the ‘only available gap’ in this Western Ghats region, underscored by the fact that it is used by most trains from western India towards Mumbai. The tremors underline the weakness in this gap, environment expert V Subramanian said.
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In fact, there is hardly any scientific explanation yet of the Palghar tremors from government sources. The lack of information is fuelling fear.
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“Such natural calamity can’t be controlled but we have provided training, relief and rehabilitation, emergency services and held disaster management camps in affected villages,” a government official, who did not wish to be named, said. Most officials in the zone take a similar stance.
Villagers, however, quashed such claims of awareness drives, monetary compensations and rehabilitation measures like quake-resistant tents. Nothing has reached them, many of them told DTE.
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