Any earthquake, irrespective of its intensity, is a dreaded phenomenon because many a time, it brings in its wake fear, misery, loss of life, cattle and property that one raises with great effort and hard-earned money.
It is feared by not only human beings but by animals, too. However, the strange fact remains, that whereas we do not get any forewarning and are hit all of a sudden, animals come to know about it instinctively.
It is widely known that shortly before the phenomenon occurs, animals get disturbing signals from the earth. They get panicky and start running amok. In the process, they convey their intuition as a warning to humans. Take the cue- well and good. If you do not, you surely run the risk of going through an ordeal.
In the yesteryears, there was no quake consciousness, so dwellings, both small and big, were built in a manner so as to provide immunity from only burglars. Building laws were either non-existent or were inadequate. But surely, whatever rules existed, were not implemented by the concerned authorities.
Even today, one can see terraces of houses in old localities almost conjoined. One could jump from one housetop to another and hop through the entire locality. In the event of a quake, family members would rush to their rooftops which in their wisdom ensured greater chances of survival.
Little realisation
There was little realisation that their two or three storeyed buildings could bury them. Others would just converge in the centre of their small courtyards. Their only hope lay in remembering God, the Almighty, in those terrifying moments.
Those ill-planned houses, however, had a positive side. Their walls being "conjoined", they withstood the shock of minor and medium intensity tremors. It is widely known that quake-related casualties of such houses were less than those of independent and isolated dwellings built in open areas.
It was gratifying that the latter day vertical multistorey buildings got adequate safeguard against quakes. Our building complex is one of them - duly immunised against damage from earthquakes. Nevertheless, tremors keep visiting us.
Many residents, who had migrated from old and congested localities, were quite happy with their graduation to a better place - the modern day flats. Breathing in fresh air entering their rooms from their balconies on the seventh or higher floors was a refreshing experience for them.
Yet, one snag was that in an emergency like a tremor, they could not have used the lifts and were supposed to take the spiralling stairs to reach the open ground below with the speed of a 12-year-old.
Earthquake is undoubtedly a serious matter but that it has its lighter aspect also came to the fore when a tremor gave us a jolt one summer night at about 2am.
Residents living on lower floors had already come out in the open waiting for others. But even in those anxious moments, they could not help watching with amusement people from higher floors making a hurried descent unmindful of what they were wearing. A middle-aged executive, who always stood out because of his impeccable dressing style in daytime, was in such unusual and scanty wear that upturned his image.
Plight
Similar was the plight of a tall but hefty lady who was rushing down with her baby clinging to her and a two-year old tugging her skirt. The hot weather appeared to be too cumbersome for her and apparently the tremor made her panicky giving no time to put on some extra covering.
And then there was a young man who hurriedly spiralled down the staircase almost fully wrapped in a bed-sheet even in that hot weather certainly left the onlookers a bit puzzled. But they must have soon found out the answer to the riddle posed by that youth.
The message the tremor left behind was that it is both a leveller and a revealer.
