3.2.4. Current scenario

Jain (2005), IIT Gandhinagar, in his article ‘the Indian earthquake problem’ mentions the scenario post- earthquake in India. After the earthquake strikes people feel assured that now the construction will be seismic responsive, and efforts will be taken in this direction. The houses are seismic resistive when people are not killed while living inside. He states that during Bhuj earthquake “Multi-storey buildings fall like a pack of cards and realized that these housing types are similar to the ones in which they are living or have plans to retire into.” “Structural Engineers Forum of India (www.sefindia.org) clearly show that a huge number of unsafe buildings continue to be built every day”. Hence, he emphasises that it is more important to construct building robust rather than finding solutions for public awareness, because if the buildings survive and less casualties occur, it will become an example way forward. Retrofitting for old vernacular structures is a promising solution in terms of seismic resistance, “to develop systems, policies and methodologies for seismic retrofitting of existing structures to prepare for sensible retrofitting programmes.”

3.2.3 Current scenario

The current scenario study focuses on the existing condition of pol houses which were studied through recent works. Residents were approached telephonically to gather the information related to 2001 earthquake scenario and current damages and issues which they are facing. Municipal corporation was approached to understand the policies and role of A.M.C. for disaster management and conservation of residences. With the development of heritage cell at the municipality level and the city receiving its title of world heritage city, the awareness within the community towards the heritage structures has increased. (Nayak).The newspaper reports related to the conservation within the historic city were referred. From the workshop proceedings of “disaster risk reduction of historic cities – a framework of building resilience”, organized by NIDM (national institute of disaster management) and A.M.C. in 2018 it is evident that the concern for earthquake resilience has been identified. The report mentions a lack of policy level conservation strategies and guidelines.

Figure 16 Newspaper reports, Source – Times of India

Figure 17 2018 times of india report that mentions about the workshop regarding the disaster management in pol, Source - Times of india

The disaster risk reduction of historic cities workshop was a research conducted by identifying the issues related to disaster risk by survey of Shantinath ni pol as a pilot project. The residences were studied, and their conditions were marked by interviewing the residents. It was observed that out of 50 properties, 22 traditional houses were completely altered or rebuilt with T girders and concrete and 12 houses were the only surviving cluster with traditional materials but in a bad state. (Bhandopadhyay, 2020)