38 Indian Cities in High-Risk Seismic Zones - IndiaSpend-Journalism India - Data Journalism India - Investigative Journalism-IndiaSpend

8/2/2017 38 Indian Cities In High-Risk Seismic Zones | IndiaSpend-Journalism India |Data Journalism India|Investigative Journalism-IndiaSpend
Wednesday, August 02, 2017 Subscribe Search in site...
300 million people in India

TB and under-nutri on have without access to electricity
a two-way causal associa on Basic Energy Access Does Not
More Than One Million TB Pa ents Unlock Broader Socio-Economic
Lack Adequate Nutri on Benets
38 Indian Cities In High-Risk Seismic Zones Republish

Reprint
IndiaSpend Team, April 25, 2015 Follow @IndiaSpend
Most Read Most Popular Most Mailed

0 0 1 1
Shares
50135
Views
Only 17 of 100 Biharis
support JD(U): Unravelling
The Ni sh Kumar Myth
26 Cases Of Cow-Related
Violence In 7 Months Of
2017, Equalling 2016 As
Worst Year
Foodgrain Output Up 5-Fold

In 60 Years, Hides Indias
Farm Distress
UPs An -Aba oir Campaign

Could Cripple Prime
Revenue- And Job-
Genera ng Industries
Indias Non Farm-loan Debts

Could Se le All Distressed
Farm Loans
http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/38-indian-cities-in-high-risk-seismic-zones-17989 1/10
A collapsed building in Kathmandu, Nepal after an earthquake hit the region on April 25, 2015.
Recent Posts
At least 38 Indian cities lie in high-risk seismic zones; nearly 60% of the subcontinental
landmass is vulnerable to earthquakes and except for rare exceptionssuch as the Delhi Be Bachao: The Declining Sex Ra os Of Indian Ci es
MetroIndias hastily-built cities are open to great damage from earthquakes.
In Two Years, Crimes Against Women Passengers On
Indian Trains Up 35%
The earthquake that devastated the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal and jolted northern India, Foodgrain Output Up 5-Fold In 60 Years, Hides Indias
damaging buildings as far apart as Agra and Siliguri, was expected by geologists, who have Farm Distress
warned of more Himalayan earthquakes, caused by the growing pressures of the subcontinent
In 9 Months To Dec 2015, More Than Half
grinding into the Asian mainland.
Unemployed Couldnt Find Jobs Fit For Their Skills
Centre Yet To Release 46% Of Swachh Bharat Mission

(Urban) Funds For Construc ng Toilets
Search in Archive
Select a date
Select month
Select a category
Agriculture
Search with Google
Write keyword and hit return

Stefan Simanowitz Follow
@StefSimanowitz
#Dharahara (Bhimsen Tower) the 19th century, 9-storey tall

tower in #Kathmandu, has collapsed b/c #Nepalquake #Nepal
12:47 PM - Apr 25, 2015
22 1,069 183
Tweets about IndiaSpend

Aman Rathi
@rathi_aman
@IndiaSpend Proud of u sir...@PiyushGoyal
U r 1 of d best minister of modi gov..
9m
Sandeep Mishra
@sandeepmishra31
Congratulations sir, proud of you sir
@PiyushGoyal
Embed View on Twitter
BeingPositive Follow
@its_anu
Failed to display MailChimp Form
#earthquake Siliguri
1:27 PM - Apr 25, 2015
3
The metro is prepared, almost no one else is

Very few buildings in India meet the standards prescribed in Indian Standard Criteria for
Earthquake Resistant Design, first published by the Bureau of Indian Standards in 1962, the
latest revision being in 2005. These are not enforced, so almost no one knows such
earthquake-resistant standards and guidelines for home-owners, exist.
The Delhi Metro is one of the few Indian structures built to withstand a quake. Many of the
houses built in Bhuj after the Gujarat quake of 2001 are now earthquake-resistant. The rare
building and high-rise may be designed for quakes.
But nothing has changed since 1993, when a relatively mild earthquake of magnitude 6.4 in
Maharashtras Latur district killed nearly 10,000 people, in what was considered a non-
seismic zone. Most died because shoddily constructed houses collapsed at the first major
shake, as they did in Gujarat eight years later.
The government of India today lists 38 cities in moderate to high-risk seismic zones.
Typically, the majority of the constructions in these cities are not earthquake-resistant,
notes a 2006 report written by the United Nations for the ministry of home affairs.
Therefore in the event of an earthquake, one of these cities would become a major disaster.
How earthquakes occur

The earths landmasses ride like gigantic rafts on plates, or sections of the earths outermost
layer, the crust. These plates frequently slip and slide, causing earthquakes. We dont feel the
small ones. The big ones, literally, shake us up.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) explains on its website how the magnitude of an
earthquake, as measured on the Richter scale, can be greatly out of proportion to its energy
and potential for devastation.
The magnitude scale is really comparing amplitudes of waves on a seismogram, not the
STRENGTH (energy) of the quakes, says the USGS. So, a magnitude 8.7 is 794 times bigger
than a 5.8 quake as measured on seismograms, but the 8.7 quake is about 23,000 times
STRONGER than the 5.8! Since it is really the energy or strength that knocks down buildings,
this is really the more important comparison. This means that it would take about 23,000
quakes of magnitude 5.8 to equal the energy released by one magnitude 8.7 event.
Why north India is on shaky ground

The Himalayas and north India are on particularly shaky ground. Sometime in the geological
past, before humans, India broke off from an ancient supercontinent called Gondwana, a
name still used for what is now Chhattisgarh.
Alex Gavan Follow

@AlexGAVAN
Everest base camp huge earthquaqe then huge avalanche from

pumori.Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people
up the mountain.
12:01 PM - Apr 25, 2015
172 2,326 599
Northmen PK Follow
@NorthmenPK
#Everest camp1 and camp 2 swept away by avalanche, many

climbers missing. climbers also missing from north side as per
reports. #Nepalquake
1:55 PM - Apr 25, 2015
6 387 42
The Indian plate skewed north, displaced an ancient sea, travelled more than 2,000 km the
fastest a plate has ever moved and slammed into the Eurasian plate, creating the
Himalayas, where you can still find sea shells.
The great, northward grind continues

India still grinds northeast into Asia at roughly 5 cm every year. The last significant but not
geologically
ABOUTsignificant
FACT quake inEVENTS
CHECK this area was the 2005
HEALTH temblor in Pakistan-administered
& SANITATION DATA ROOM VIZNOMICS DONATE SPECIAL SECTIONS #BREATHE
Kashmir, which sits directly atop the clashing Indian and Eurasian plates. About 80,000
died. About 60% of India is vulnerable to earthquakes caused by the great, northward grind
of the Indian subcontinental landmass.
Image Credit: Wikimedia/Arun Ganesh
Intensity Of Earthquakes In Different Zones
Seismic Zone Intensity on Modified Mercalli scale
Zone II (Low intensity zone) VI (or less)
Zone III (Moderate intensity zone) VII
Zone IV (Severe intensity zone) VIII
Zone V (Very severe intensity zone) IX (and above)

Source: Lok Sabha; Note:Modified Mercalli intensity measures the impact of earthquakes on the
surface of the earth.
Indias earthquakes since Independence

The only serious earthquake that modern India remembers is the temblor that killed about
20,000 in Gujarat in 2001. The 2004 tsunami, which resulted from the third-most most
severe quake ever recorded, 9.3 on the Richter scale, occurred when the Indian plate slid with
greater violence than it normally does under the neighbouring Burma plate, upon which rest
the Andaman and Nicobar islands. It caused a 100-km-long rupture in the crust, thrusting the
seafloor upwards and pushing up masses of water, setting off tsunamis that killed 230,000
people in 14 countries.
Deaths Caused By Different Natural Causes in India, 2004-2013
Natural Cause Deaths
Lightning 24017
Heat Stroke 9734
Cold and Exposure 8019
Floods 8241
Cyclone/tornado 3713
Landslide 3462
Torrential rains 1967
Starvation/thirst 1680
Earthquake 887
Epidemic 764
Avalanche 564
Other Natural Causes 165682
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
No Indian city has yet been hit, but risks, history serve warning
No Indian metropolis has witnessed a serious earthquake, although Delhi lies in high-risk
seismic zone 4. Srinagar and Guwahati are in the highest-risk zone 5; Mumbai, Chennai and
Kolkata lie in zone 3.
History serves warning that a big one may come at any time. Those lessons come from Bihar
in 1934 and Assam in 1950.
Although its epicentre was 10 km south of Mount Everest, the Bihar earthquake of 1934 was
felt from Mumbai to Lhasa, flattening almost all major buildings in many Bihar districts and
damaging many in Calcutta. At 8.4 on the Richter scale, it was pretty severe, killing more than
8,100 (Mahatma Gandhi said it was punishment for the sin of untouchability).
The 1950 Assam earthquake, may have geologically set the stage for a really big one in the
Himalayas, according to geologists. Now that 65 years have passed, it may be time for a big
one.
India has had five moderate earthquakes (Richter Magnitudes ~6.0-6.4) since 1988 as
reminders to improve the earthquake preparedness of the country. And, historically, some of
the great earthquakes (Richter Magnitudes >8.0) have occurred in India and that too four in
the last 115 years, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), wrote in 2000.
The world seismic community has taken advantage of the experiences from these events, but
we in India have paid no heed to these reminders. Today, the number of persons interested in
improving the earthquake preparedness in the country is effectively very small. Moreover,
most of these persons are in the academia.
(You can check the Indian Meteorological Departments website for the latest earthquake
reports.)
_________________________________________________________
Liked this story? Indiaspend.org is a non-profit, and we depend on readers like you to
drive our public-interest journalism efforts. Donate Rs 500; Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000.
You might also like

More Education, Fewer Child Brides, Healthier Children
Watch: 5% Of Indian Marriages Inter Caste, In Mizoram, 55%
Manual Scavenging A Crime. Govt Agencies Dodge Law
Indias Most Bankrupt Electricity Boards
How Govt Skills Training Programmes Aimed For Wrong Targets & Wasted Public Funds
Recommended by
Leave a Reply
Powered by OneAll Social Login
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Name *
Email *
Website
Captcha *
Type the text displayed above:
Comment
Post Comment
IndiaSpend Sectors Investigations States
Home Economy & Policy Centre New Delhi

About Us Education State West Bengal
Viznomics Health Tamil Nadu
Resources Infrastructure Maharashtra
Contact Agriculture
Defence
2015, IndiaSpend-Journalism India |Data Journalism Copyright All rights reserved
India|Investigative Journalism-IndiaSpend

38 Indian Cities in High-Risk Seismic Zones - IndiaSpend-Journalism India - Data Journalism India - Investigative Journalism-IndiaSpend

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

38 Indian Cities in High-Risk Seismic Zones - IndiaSpend-Journalism India - Data Journalism India - Investigative Journalism-IndiaSpend

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

8/2/2017 38 Indian Cities In High-Risk Seismic Zones | IndiaSpend-Journalism India |Data Journalism India|Investigative Journalism-IndiaSpend

Wednesday, August 02, 2017 Subscribe Search in site...

300 million people in India

38 Indian Cities In High-Risk Seismic Zones Republish

Most Read Most Popular Most Mailed

Foodgrain Output Up 5-Fold

UPs An -Aba oir Campaign

Indias Non Farm-loan Debts

Centre Yet To Release 46% Of Swachh Bharat Mission

Search with Google

Write keyword and hit return

#Dharahara (Bhimsen Tower) the 19th century, 9-storey tall

Tweets about IndiaSpend

The metro is prepared, almost no one else is

How earthquakes occur

Why north India is on shaky ground

Alex Gavan Follow

Everest base camp huge earthquaqe then huge avalanche from

172 2,326 599

#Everest camp1 and camp 2 swept away by avalanche, many

The great, northward grind continues

Image Credit: Wikimedia/Arun Ganesh

Intensity Of Earthquakes In Different Zones

Seismic Zone Intensity on Modified Mercalli scale

Zone II (Low intensity zone) VI (or less)

Zone III (Moderate intensity zone) VII

Zone IV (Severe intensity zone) VIII

Zone V (Very severe intensity zone) IX (and above)

Indias earthquakes since Independence

Deaths Caused By Different Natural Causes in India, 2004-2013

Natural Cause Deaths

Heat Stroke 9734

Cold and Exposure 8019

Torrential rains 1967

Other Natural Causes 165682

Source: National Crime Records Bureau

You might also like

Powered by OneAll Social Login

Type the text displayed above:

IndiaSpend Sectors Investigations States

Home Economy & Policy Centre New Delhi

You might also like