Facebook raises funds for Nepal earthquake

Tech News -  The Himalayan nation was rattled by a powerful earthquake measuring 7.9 on Richter Scale on April 25 which left over 6,000 dead and injured more than 10,000.

"We gave people the option on Facebook to support local relief efforts. In two days, more than half a million people donated and raised more than USD 10 million to support the International Media Corps relief effort," a status posted by Facebook founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg said.

"Facebook will donate an additional USD 2 million to local recovery efforts to help those in affected areas.

"The popular social media platform had also activated a safety feature where more than seven million people in Nepal have been marked as safe.

The Facebook CEO has also stated that it is inspiring to see communities coming together to help people in their time of need.

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NGRI scientists to study Nepal earthquake

"NGRI teams are going to the Nepal border. They will study the characteristics of this quake and its aftershocks using seismic data and field mapping in the coming days. The aim is to assess the seismic hazard level," NGRI, Additional in-charge, Ch Mohan Rao, said.

The information and knowledge obtained through the analyses would be helpful in understanding the earthquake dynamics and identify the earthquake-prone areas, he said.
  
The information would also be useful in taking  decisions on locating sensitive installations like nuclear power plants, Rao, who is also Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), said.

However, he stressed that there was no way earthquakes can be predicted and the need was to take adequate measures to mitigate loss of life and property during such catastrophe.

"No... no way we can predict (a quake). People need to be taught what needs to be done in the event of a quake. School children should be taught. There should be a designated area where people should assemble when a quake occurs," he said.

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Government sanctions two new battalions to NDRF

A decision in this regard was on Wednesday cleared by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it approved the "conversion of two additional battalions of the border guarding Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) for strengthening of the existing National Disaster Response Force units."

The NDRF, which is undertaking salvage operations at present in quake-hit Nepal and some affected states of the country, currently has 10 battalions. The two new battalions will be based in Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh.   

"The objective of the conversion of these two additional battalions of SSB into NDRF battalions is to provide response to the area of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh during any natural and man-made disaster and to enhance the capability of the existing NDRF battalions.

"The placement of two NDRF Battalions at Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh will fill up the vast gap of deployment of the NDRF," an official release said.

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