taking ssc exam no big deal for teens who’re taking on cancerdc/toi-dc1.pdf · bhandup, borivli,...

SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAIMARCH 8, 201510 TIMES CITY

Mumbai: A recent seismichazard study reveals thatstructures built in parts ofMumbai and Navi Mumbai arenot equipped to face earth-quakes of or above 7.5 magni-tude on the Richter scale due tosoil conditions.

The study states that struc-tures run the risk of beingrazed to the ground becausethe soil here is marine clay. Al-so, major parts of Mumbai andNavi Mumbai are developed onreclaimed land and lands filledup with soft material, makingit vulnerable to increase theearthquake from bedrock levelto ground level, causing majordamage to a city.

Mumbai region is classi-fied as a Seismic Zone III re-gion, which means an earth-quake of up to magnitude orintensity of 6.5 on the Richterscale can be expected. Howev-er, the study shows that somelocations in Mumbai and NaviMumbai, due to soil condi-tions, can fall under seismiczone IV and could suffer anearthquake of higher magni-tude of 7.5 or above on the Rich-ter scale.

This study comes at a time,when the state and Centre haveannounced grand plans to de-velop the Mumbai Port Trustregion and the development isunderway in several places inNavi Mumbai, including the

JNPT area. The study was con-ducted by professor Deepan-kar Choudhury from IIT-Bom-bay’s civil engineeringdepartment and his formerPhD research scholar andPWD engineer Dr Sarika De-sai. “Site-specific studies con-ducted for soil liquefaction re-veal that JNPT and MumbaiPort Trust have typical marineclay and the soil can flow likewater at shallow depth,” saysChoudhury. Therefore, struc-tures in JNPT or Mumbai PortTrust area can be at a seriousrisk of being razed to ground if

there is an earthquake of highintensity due to the marineclay soil. “Even places likeBhandup, Borivli, Dahisar,Malad and Bandra with softsoil can be subjected to suchliquefaction for earthquake ofhigh magnitude,” says Choud-hury.

“We also studied the PeakHorizontal Acceleration(PHA), a measure of earth-quake acceleration on the ground, (in layman terms-how hard the earth shakes in a given geographic area), andfound that it increases steadilyfrom relatively low to highseismicity from the central tosouthern and northern partsof Mumbai region... There-fore, there is need to relook atthe classification of earth-quake zones entirely for Mum-bai and Navi Mumbai,” Choud-hury said.

‘Parts of city can’t facequake of 7.5 intensity’

Sanjeev.Devasia@timesgroup.com

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY➤ The study also published in the journal of American Society of Civil Engineers deals with identification of seismic hazards and study of soil conditions in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai region.

➤ It points out that Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are in ‘seismic zone III’ but soil and rock conditions vary extensively from soft to stiff and hard type of material below

ground surface and will not be able to withstand higher intensity earthquake.

Photo for representational purposes only

Mumbai: Three teenagers, whoare battling cancer, were amongover 3 lakh students who ap-peared for the SSC exam’s En-glish paper in Mumbai on Satur-day. State education boardauthorities said there are ninestudents who have cancer, andare taking the class 10 board ex-am from Mumbai division.

Sneha Ari (14), a student ofSacred Heart High School inWorli, has been battling bloodcancer since a year and a half.But that has not deterred herfrom taking the exam. Her fatherAsim Ari, who has quit work forthe past year to take care of Sne-ha, said his daughter was deter-mined to write the exam. “Shefinds it difficult to sit for longhours because her bones starthurting, but Sneha wanted towrite her papers without a writ-er,” said Asim.

Sneha says she did not wantto lose out on the crucial year. “Iused to spend all my free timestudying.Though the treatmentdid not give me enough time forstudies, my parents motivatedme,” said Sneha.

Astudent of J B Khota Schoolin Borivli is also taking the examdespite a chemotherapy sessionevery 15 days. “The doctor hadsuggested that my son not takethe exam this year, but he was ve-ry keen,” said the boy’s father,who did not wish to be identified.

Since December 2014, thisboy has completed five cycles ofchemotherapy.

Shweta Dobliyal, a student ofPoorna Prajna school, Dahisar,has had bone cancer for the lastfive years. “Due to cancer, I devel-oped a condition that affects myheart. Now, even if I don’t need to

visit the hospital for chemother-apy, I need to go for the heart con-dition,” said Shweta who doesnot use a writer.

Rachana Sharma, assistantheadmistress at Shweta’s schoolsaid the girl has never taken un-due advantage of the ailment.“Until class 9, she never asked forany help. Even now, she appearsfor exams and practicals withouthelp,” said Sharma.

SSC students, who wrote theexam on Saturday, said the En-glish paper was too lengthy. “Ihad to rush to complete the pa-per,” said a student from Thane.

Taking SSC exam no big deal forteens who’re taking on cancer

Vinamrata.Borwankar@timesgroup.com

Sneha Ari (14) has been suffering from blood cancer since 18 months

Uma Kadam

Mumbai: If your Sundaycommuting plan gets upsetdue to the weekly megablock, here’s some goodnews for you. The CentralRailway has tied up withBEST to ply buses betweenstations affected by themega block.

This Sunday, for in-stance, BEST will ply busesbetween Matunga and Mu-lund stations where a blockwill be held, said a seniorCentral Railway official.

Usually, the frequency ofBEST buses is lower than onweekdays. The railways alsoplan to cobble up similarpacts with transport bodiesin Navi Mumbai, Thane, Ka-lyan-Dombivli.

Several citizens, whowork on Sundays, are badlyaffected by such megablocks with many having toshell out exorbitantly for au-torickshaw and/taxi fares.

Chief public relations of-ficer of the Central Railway,Narendra Patil, confirmed

said they would intimate theBEST of the mega blockstretches so that BEST candecide on the number of bus-es to be plied and the stationsfrom which the buses will beavailable to commuters. De-pending on the demand,BEST may also ply air-condi-tioned buses.

Mega block on CR?Take a BEST buson affected route

Somit.Sen @timesgroup.comMumbai: An ornate 140-year-oldwater fountain and clock tower lo-cated in Bhat Bazar, Masjid, will be rededicated to the city onSunday morning.

The fountain was built by trader philanthropist KessowjiNaik and has been restored by hisnative Kutchi Dsaha Oswal Jain Mahajan community at a cost of Rs30 lakh.

Trust president Nayan Bhedasaid, “We are proud of Naik whohad contributed the largest share ofprivate land to the Bombay PortTrust. He wielded tremendous in-fluence during the Raj era and wasawarded the Peace of Justice Awardby the British governor.”

The trust also runs a 182-year-old Shri Ananthnath Derasar near-by. This is reportedly the third ol-dest Jain temple in Mumbai andwas built to honour the 14th Tir-thankar. Bheda says theirs is a smallcluster of 32,000 members world-wide, fewer than even the Parsis.

CM Devendra Fadnavis, minis-ter Prakash Mehta, the mayor andmunicipal commissioner are ex-pected to attend Sunday’s rededica-tion ceremony. TNN

140-year-oldwater fountainto be restored

in Masjid

On Sunday, CR will hold amega block betweenMatunga and Mulund on theDown fast line from 10.45 amto 3.15 pm.

Services will run 20minutes late, an official said.On the harbour line, a blockwill be held between Panveland Nerul from 11 am to 3 pmand Panvel-Andheri serviceswill be cancelled.

“Special local trains willrun on CST – Nerul and Thane– Nerul sections. Due to thisblocks, suburban trains arelikely to be more crowded,”said an official. TNN

Blocks on CR main,harbour today

Commuters on CentralRailway’s harbourline were inconve-

nienced around 11.45am onSaturday after the engine ofa goods train broke away,causing a delay in services.

“The engine got de-cou-pled (separated) and wentseveral metres ahead, leav-ing the wagons behind,”

said an eyewitness.A senior CR official said

the decoupling happenedaround 11.40am and theproblem was sorted outwithin 25 minutes. Due tothis, three suburban trainservices were cancelled.

An inquiry has been in-stituted into the cause of thede-coupling. TNN

Engine delinks from train

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There is need to relook at the

classification of earthquakezones entirely for Mumbaiand Navi Mumbai

Prof Deepankar Choudhury