At a scientific conference held in Hardwar on Sunday, well-known geologist and vice-chancellor of Roorkee University Jaikrishan said in his inaugural address that society as a whole has had a major responsibility in coming to the aid of people affected by natural disasters.

It was also the duty of various scientific institutes to see to it that the houses in quake-prone areas were built in a manner that it would make them as quake-resistant as possible. It has been noticed that old houses in which wooden frames had been used had not been damaged much in the recent earthquake in the Garhwal hills, he said.

FRI's director Jagdish Rawat said at the meet that his institute had conducted a survey in Chamoli andRudraprayag after the recent quakes there to find out how much wood had been used in the houses that had been damaged. It was found that houses which had less wood in them had been damaged more, he added.

Dr M S Virdi of the WIHG said that some areas of the Himalayan region were sinking while others were rising in level. Pressure of population was leading to large-scale deforestation resulting in soil erosion and landslides, he added.

Dr Virdi said that a relief plan should be prepared to counter such disasters and a permanent relief committee should be constituted comprising representatives of the government, scientific community and social organisations. Gram panchayats and NGOs should also be closely involved in this work, he added.

Urgent relief measures were required in the case of natural calamities like quakes and these can be made available only if a strong task force was trained in advance to meet these situations at local and regional levels, said Dr Virdi.

A K Pachauri of the RoorkeeUniversity said there was no coordination among the government, scientists and the people regarding natural hazards. The Government had never asked the Roorkee Engineering University to carry out specific studies on landslides and earthquakes, he said.

WIHG's director V C Thakur said in his presidential address that it was hoped that in the near future it would become possible to predict earthquakes. A lot of money was being spent in some countries towards this end.

Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) expert N K Singhari said the CBRI was training about 400 Government officials in Chamoli regarding quake relief measures.