When faced with danger, the ostrich buries its head in the sand, believing that if it can ignore imminent danger, the danger will also ignore it. Little by little I began to believe in the ostrich theory, but my sane side warned me to take a more rational approach. In India everyone is so excited about the property boom that security is ignored and compromised.

The players in the real estate business are bankers, financial institutes, insurance companies, developers/builders and not to mention the end user. Bankers are busy pumping funds into home loans, which of course are considered low risk: high-yield investments, real estate funds, and financial institutions are making a quick buck while they can, keeping an eye on the exit strategy in case of a crash. builders and developers are busy racking up millions with no responsibility or liability and finally the common man is happy with the “feel good factor” that his investment will continue to rise by 30-40% a year at least according to the hundreds of articles about Indian real estate prospects. Reason enough for everyone with a little extra cash to make an investment. Everyone is happy and everyone is making money, so why all the fuss about security?

Let me start by asking, how long does it take for a bank or insurance company to go bankrupt? …………….you guessed wrong. 40 seconds is all it takes. That was what happened during the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the United States, and history repeated itself the following year when an earthquake struck Kobe, Japan. The estimated loss was so many billions of dollars that Blue Chips had no choice but to declare bankruptcy and eventually the government had to step in to partially bail them out. The Reserve Bank of India has warned the industry, but the magic of “Real Bucks” has blurred these warnings.

Let’s talk hypothetically about a scenario where an earthquake occurs, say 300KM from Mumbai or for that matter Delhi (don’t be surprised, there are plenty of fault lines running within that distance). The immediate effect would be that hundreds of buildings would collapse and thousands more would be damaged beyond repair, something similar to what happened in Ahmedabad in January 2001. How will bankers recoup disbursed loans when the property they hold? financed does not exist? Could insurance companies foot the bill for damage claims? Even big banks like ICICI and HDFC would find it nearly impossible to absorb this loss. The salvation for the smaller banks and insurance companies would be in declaring bankruptcy.

For those not so familiar with seismic jargon, most buildings in Mumbai or Delhi aren’t even earthquake resistant: safety of life implies that these would definitely collapse in a seismic event. Earthquake-Resistant Buildings – Life Safety would have to be demolished and rebuilt, as they are primarily designed to save the lives of their occupants by avoiding total collapse. Life Safety buildings absorb Quake Shock, inflicting structural damage on themselves.

Earthquake protection is classified into three categories, earthquake resistant: fully operational, earthquake resistant: immediate occupancy, and earthquake resistant: life safety. Simply stating that a building is earthquake resistant is meaningless, as it does not imply anything about its performance, survivability or post-earthquake use. There is well documented literature such as FEMA-389 (available free online), which explains the different levels of earthquake protection and the expected performance of such structures.

This information has been kept out of the reach of the Indian public. To date, no Indian document talks about the different levels of protection possible. The Indian Bureau of Standards publishes and regularly reviews IS-1893 – The Seismic Code of India. However, no attempt has been made to include information to sensitize engineers and the public to the various levels of protection possible. This is in stark contrast to the policy being adopted in countries like Japan and the United States. A direct consequence is that even those who can afford and would like a higher level of protection are unable to do so due to a lack of awareness.

Not many know that even in our major cities and that includes the National Capital, not a single hospital will function in the event of an earthquake. Hospitals around the world in seismically active regions are built to earthquake resistant and fully operational standards. In India, the authorities have not yet recognized the various categories of protection. It remains unanswered who would treat the wounded and sick at the most necessary time. Interestingly, according to information from the Prime Minister’s Office, Rs 113.49 crores was spent on an isolated hospital at the Bhuj base of the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. This hospital must meet the standard earthquake resistant and fully operational.

Adding to the problems of the common man, to date, the real estate sector in our country remains unregulated. In July 2006 there were positive reports that the Ministry of Urban Development would introduce the “Real Estate Management (Regulation and Control) Bill” to Parliament during the monsoon session. However, for reasons better known to the offices of power, it never saw the light of day. This media frenzy has recently gained momentum again. Only time will tell if the bill is finally introduced in the current budget session.

There are three key issues in the “Real Estate Management (Regulation and Control) Bill” that can have a significant impact on the industry and the common man. First of all, all built apartments would have to be sold in carpeted areas and not in overbuilt areas as is being done now. The carpet area is easily verifiable and can be calculated after taking a few measurements of the room. This would ensure that the buyer is not cheated and gets what he is paying for.

Second, transparency in the selling area would also simplify land area calculations. It would no longer be possible for not-so-honest developers to divert land from society in collusion with corrupt municipal officials. For example, if the built-up area of ​​a multi-story apartment block is 1,50,000 square feet and FSI/FAR is 1.5 (150%), it would imply that the land area of ​​the corporation should be 1,00,000 feet. square, in case it is less, the regulator could be contacted to take the necessary measures.

To ensure safety, the bill proposes to make earthquake resistance mandatory and legally enforceable. Builders/Developers would also need to provide collateral. The Ministry of Urban Development would have to decide which level of security should be made mandatory, Seismic Resistant – Life Safety or Seismic Resistant – Immediate Occupancy. One thought process is that since a skyscraper collapse would have much higher collateral damage compared to a low building, the standard of protection should also be one level higher.

India is not adverse to the effects of natural disasters. We have had too many for memory to erode so easily, be it the earthquakes in Bhuj, Kashmir or the Andaman Tsunami in the recent past. For this reason, the National Disaster Management Authority was created in 2005. According to the NDMA, a “comprehensive program for earthquake risk mitigation” has been undertaken. He accepts that in “many cases, Building regulations do not incorporate BIS codes” and that it is necessary to address the “lack of knowledge about seismically safe construction among architects and engineers, as well as the lack of awareness among the population.”

When the NDMA was established there were great expectations, even more so since it was chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Teacher. NVC Menon, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority, recently announced in Delhi that the Government was in the process of finalizing the National Disaster Management Policy which would come into force on April 1, 2007. Hopefully this policy would cover comprehensively all aspects of security, including clear guidelines to sensitize the masses. It is ironic that although there are many articles about the high seismicity of the Indian subcontinent, there is no advertisement in the government newspapers educating the public on these aspects. Disaster awareness is all the Government has to guarantee and the masses (at least the more educated ones) will take the necessary precautionary measures. Let’s start by listing the different levels of security. Undoubtedly, sensitizing a population of 100 crores is a Herculean task.