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Form national panel on earthquakes: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Union government to form a committee and seek suggestions from experts across the country on tackling situations like the Gujarat earthquake.

The committee should seek opinions of state chief secretaries and come forth with concrete remedial measures, said a division bench of Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice D K Jain.

The direction followed a public interest litigation filed by advocate B L Wadehra seeking appropriate steps at the administrative level to tackle earthquakes.

While the scope of Wadehra's petition was restricted to Delhi, the judges said the issue had nation-wide ramifications and should be addressed at the national level.

The petition had pointed out that the highrises in the national capital would crumble in event of an earthquake just as multi-storeyed buildings did in Gujarat. ''It is therefore necessary that all these buildings be subjected to immediate technical audit by groups of experts drawn from related fields,'' the petition said.

The Complete Coverage | List of earthquake sites

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