As Turkey and Syria deal with the aftermath of deadly temblors that killed nearly 5,000, a question that comes to mind is ‘how prone is India to earthquakes?’ According to the government, around 59 per cent of India’s land mass is prone to earthquakes of varying intensity. Cities and towns in eight states and Union Territories are in zone-5 and are at risk of earthquakes of the highest intensity. Even the National Capital region is in zone-4, the second-highest category.
Minister of state for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh had informed the Lok Sabha in July 2021 “that considering the recorded history of earthquakes in the country, a total of 59% of the land mass of India is prone to earthquakes of different intensities”. He said as per the seismic zoning map of the country, the total area was classified into four seismic zones.
Zone 5 is the zone where the most intense earthquakes occur, while the least intense quakes take place in zone 2. Approximately 11% of the country’s area falls in Zone 5, 18% in zone 4, 30% in zone 3 and the remaining in zone 2.
RISK IN HIMALAYAS
The central Himalayan region is one of the most seismically active in the world. In 1905, Kangara was hit by a massive quake.
In 1934, there was a Bihar-Nepal quake, which measured 8.2 and claimed 10,000 people. In 1991, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Uttarkashi killed over 800 people. In 2005, 80,000 people were killed in Kashmir after an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude hit the region.
