Tremors force Dahanu ashram school in Maharashtra to hold classes in the open

Classes at an ashram school in Dahanu taluka in Maharashtra's Palghar district are being conducted in the open as several tremors in the past few weeks have left residents and students frightened. The Dahanu area has seen at least eight tremors since November, most of them centred around Dundalwadi, the area where the ashram school is located. 

The ashram school, managed by the Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, has 576 students, 400 of whom live in accommodation provided in the campus. School functionaries said many residential students, who had gone home for the year-end vacations, had not yet returned and fear of quakes was the most likely reason for them not turning up. Anant Thakur, chairman of the school, said classes were being conducted in the open to alleviate the fear of students, adding that the school management was constructing temporary classrooms made of tarpaulin. Thakur, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, said the tarpaulin tents would serve as classrooms during the day and as residential quarters for students during the night. The Nationalist Congress Party MLC said the district administration was imparting do's and dont's on dealing with earthquakes to villagers but a sense of fear from recurring tremors persisted.