In a joint initiative of the government and seismological experts from the United States and India titled the ‘Delhi Earthquake Safety Initiative for Lifeline Buildings Project’, five short-listed buildings in the city will be retrofitted to make them earthquake-proof and these buildings would then be projected as models which could be replicated in rest of the country.

The first such building, on which work is expected to start within the next 2 months, is the Ludlow Castle School. Apart from this, the four other buildings to be retrofitted are Police Headquarters, GTB Hospital, Delhi Secretariat, and the Divisional Commissioner’s Officer.

In case of the Ludlow Castle School, the work will be done in an incremental way so that the studies do not suffer. The same method will be used in the remaining four buildings as well.

Apart from this, emphasis was also paid on the fact that schools and hospitals needed to impart training to students and staff to reduce risk, in case of a calamity. And it’s not just the public buildings, but even homes that needed to go for retrofit for safety.

While accepting the fact that technology is very expensive today, the damage in case of a disaster will be much higher, not to talk about the loss of human lives.