India: NDMA forms panel for building safety norms

The National Disaster Management Authority is concerned with 'buildings with open ground storey' that may be more prone to earthquakes, especially in high-risk seismic zones and "has set up a committee of experts to provide guidelines for making them safe," reports the Times of India.

NDMA vice-chairman M Shashidhar Reddy also said that a dedicated aircraft to collect disaster-related data and emit early warning signals will be procured and deployed by disaster mitigation authorities in the next few years.