To restore architectural resilience in the region, we must turn back to traditional ways of building. Government at all levels must both promote earthquake safety in construction and treat local earthquake science with the seriousness it deserves. India’s population is growing, particularly in Kashmir, so millions of lives are at risk.

Many earthquakes remain lost to history, but the available data suggest that 14 major earthquakes, the scars of which are engraved in the topography and sediments of the region, have occurred in Kashmir’s recorded past. The traditional construction designs include the Taq and Dhajji-Dewari styles. These types of buildings, seen in places like Srinagar, have either masonry-bearing walls (Taq) fastened with timber or a rectangular timber framework filled with masonry (Dhajji-Dewari). The design was popular in the 19th century and persisted until the beginning of the 20th century, when modernization overwhelmed Kashmir’s traditional wood and brick architecture with constructs of poorly fabricated indigenous concrete.

The transition happened for economic reasons: wood is expensive, not readily available, and acquiring it requires a lengthy administrative procedure. Its persistence is because the knowledge of wood construction has been lost; engineers in Kashmir mainly learn concrete design in school. This is, to me, a sign of the retreat of earthquake science and technological wisdom, because earthquake engineers tell us that traditional Kashmiri construction design is much safer.

The timber beams are flexible shock absorbers, giving a structure much-needed elasticity to endure earthquake-induced shaking. The 2005 earthquake tested the resilience of these old structures, which performed much better than modern houses. Many homes that used the traditional construction style survived and were not severely damaged. Concrete houses, built with no earthquake-centric design, tumbled like a deck of cards. The idea of building these structures to withstand shaking is not part of modernized culture, whether governmental or aesthetic; India’s first national seismic code was developed in 1962 and has been revised since, but for a long time it was voluntary, and now that it isn’t, it’s still not enforced in Kashmir. My family, friends and relatives have not followed seismic safety procedures when constructing their dream homes, because they don’t think it’s compulsory.

Changing culture is therefore critical.

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