Tangdhar, J-K: It seems people of this area in Jammu and Kashmir are staunch believers in the adage lightning does not strike twice at the same place.

Aware of the fact that most of the 325 deaths in Karnah sector of Kupwara district in the October 8, 2005 killer earthquake were caused by collapsing of the stone houses that had no binding material, the people have not taken things seriously.

Most of the houses are being reconstructed in an unscientific manner. While some of them are now being constructed according to the earthquake resistant guidelines issued by the state government, around 60 per cent are coming with stone and no binding material.

But they cannot be blamed alone as rising prices of building materials and logistic reasons have compounded their problems.

"The people here have probably forgotten the devastation unleashed by the earthquake three years ago. They might be also taken by the saying that lightning does not strike twice at the same place," Mehmood Shah, a retired army employee living in Chiterkoot village, said.

He said high cost of construction material was one of the major factors that was forcing people to go for the age-old way of building houses. "A truck load of bricks costs Rs 22,000 and it has to be brought from Srinagar in absence of brick kilns in Tangdhar region," Shah told PTI.

Source : PTI