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Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy wrote that the Mullaperiyar dam always had been an anxiety for Kerala. He said the anxiety is simply not just a panic. It is due to the series of tremors that happened around the vicinity of Mullaperiyar dam. The Mullaperiyar dam has been hit by 26 tremors right from July 2011. He stressed out that those activities can’t be ruled out because it can affect the stability of the dam as the dam is itself in bad condition. The highest earthquake was recorded 3.8 in the Richter scale.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stressed out the point that a study was conducted recently by the IIT Roorkee. The results of it confirm that the dam will not survive an earthquake of a magnitude 6 in the Richter scale. He wrote that heightened seismic activity at close by areas of the dam will naturally cause panic and this is what is happening in Kerala.

Another situation that is of major concern is the water level. The water level in the dam is over 136 ft. Another study by IIT, Delhi has confirmed that, keeping 136 ft in the dam is unsafe. In the event of continuous rains, the water level will rise to more than 136 ft. The studies have shown that maintaining 136 ft of water in dam will lead to overtopping and consequential collapse of the dam. So it is evident why the situation got aggravated.

If there is a collapse of the dam, due to any of these factors then the flood waters will gush downstream to five districts. Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha and Ernakulam will be devastated due to this. As a result, estimated causalities are a few million. He pointed out that it doesn’t make any sense in sitting idle thinking nothing will happen. An earthquake will collapse the dam completely.

He requested to reduce the waterlevel of dam to 120 ft. He said that by at least taking an effort to reduce water level will be relief to Kerala. He pointed out that the two states have been cooperating with each other for a number of things. He appealed one more time and said he was confident that a favorable decision will be made by Tamil Nadu State immediately.