Villagers refuse to budge from earthquake prone zone in Arunachal Pradesh

Sixteen tribal families living in a village at Peiku, identified as a severely vulnerable earthquake-prone area in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh have refused to shift to a safer place despite efforts by district officials.

The villagers experienced jolts every day, but were not alarmed, Dr D Chennaiah,director, State Remote Sensing Application Centre told a workshop here on micro-zonation of landslide and earthquake hazards attended by earth scientists from different parts of the country today.

The villagers did not pay any heed to warnings by district authorities and refused to budge, he said.

Chief minister Dorjee Khandu, who was present as chief guest said that tribals studied unnatural behaviour in domestic animals before an impending natural calamity and relied on their ancient wisdom above anything else.

He said he had heard from his elders that over 2,000 people perished in the Buddhist belt in Western Arunachal in the 1950 earthquake because they lived in stone houses.

He advised people not to construct buildings beyond the second floor in the highly seismic zone.