Lok Sabha Question No. 1780 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-26
Subject: Earthquake Prone States
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: RAYAPATI SAMBASIVA RAO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1780

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017

## EARTHQUAKE PRONE STATES

## 1780. SHRI RAYAPATI SAMBASIVA RAO:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is a policy for tackling earthquakes in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the details of earthquake-prone State/areas in the country, location-wise;
- (d) the measures put in place during the last three years in these States; and
- (e) the action plan to ensure that damage to earthquake areas are minimized and rescue operations are carried out on war footing?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

- (a-b)   National Centre for Seismology (NCS), monitor earthquake activity in real time basis (24x7). It maintains a country wide seismological network, to detect and locate earthquakes occurring in and around the country. The network  consists  of  state-of-art  digital  broadband  seismographs,  VSAT based  communication  systems  and  latest  tools  for  dissemination  of earthquake information to the concern disaster management authorities and other user agencies in least possible time. The network also includes a  17-station  real  time  seismic  monitoring  system to monitor and report large  magnitude  earthquakes  capable  of  generating  tsunamis  on  the Indian coastal regions. An  tsunami early warning system is also in place at  Indian  National  Centre  for  Ocean  Information  Services  (INCOIS), Hyderabad to provide early warning on tsunamis likely to be generated on the Indian Coastal areas by large magnitude under sea earthquakes.
- (c)     Bureau of Indian Standards [IS-1893 (Part- 1): 2002], based on the past seismic history, grouped the country into four seismic zones, viz. Zone-II, -III,  -IV  and  -V.  Of  these,  Zone  V  is  the  most  seismically  active  region, while  zone  II  is  the  least.  The  Modified  Mercalli  (MM)  intensity,  which measures  the  impact  of  the  earthquakes  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, broadly associated with various zones, is as follows:

Seismic Zone

Intensity on MM scale

II (Low intensity zone)

VI (or less)

III (Moderate intensity zone)

VII

IV (Severe intensity zone)

VIII

V (Very severe intensity zone)

IX (and above)

Broadly, Zone-V comprises of entire northeastern India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, parts  of  North  Bihar  and  Andaman  &  Nicobar  Islands.  Zone-IV  covers remaining  parts  of  Jammu  &  Kashmir  and  Himachal  Pradesh,  Union Territory of Delhi, Sikkim, northern parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast  and  Rajasthan.  Zone-III  comprises  of  Kerala,  Goa,  Lakshadweep islands, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, parts of  Punjab,  Rajasthan,  Madhya  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Jharkhand,  Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Zone-II covers remaining parts of the country.

Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has also identified important towns/urban areas  in India, falling in seismic zones II, III, IV and V  (Annexure-A).

- (d) During last three years  seismic microzonation of NCT Delhi and Kolkatta has been completed.

At  Present  ,NCS  maintains  a  National  Seismological  Network  (NSN)  for real time monitoring of earthquake activities in and around the country. The NSN now consists of 84 state-of-art digital broadband seismograph stations with VSAT commutations facilities for real time monitoring and auto location of earthquakes in and around the country. This system has latest tools for dissemination of earthquake information to the concerned disaster  management  authorities  and  other  user  agencies  in  least possible time (8- 10minutes) for relief and rescue operations in hour of need.

Under the Koyna Deep Borehole programme, studies have been initiated to  carry  out  scientific  investigations  for  deep  borehole  drilling  in  the Seismological, Geophysical  (seismic,  gravity,  magnetic),  LIDAR,  geomorphology  and

KoynaWarna region. The investigations include, structural geological studies, apart from a few exploratory boreholes.

- (e) The  National  Disaster  Management  Authority  (NDMA)  has  also  issued National Disaster Management Guidelines on Management of Earthquakes which contains roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders for  effective  management  of  earthquake  disaster  risk.  NDMA  runs awareness campaigns on Earthquake through electronic media Doordarshan, All India Radio, Private TV channels, FM Channels, digital cinemas, 139 - Railway Enquiry and print media. Multi State Mega Mock exercises  are  conducted  at  regular  intervals  for  creating  awareness. Every  year  during  IITF  in  Delhi,  awareness  is  disseminated  among general  public  by  displaying  panels  on  Do's  and  Don'ts  on  Earthquakes and by holding live  demonstrations  on  earthquake  by  National  Disaster

Response Force (NDRF). Guidelines have been published by the Bureau of Indian  Standards  (BIS),  Building  Materials  &  Technology  Promotion Council (BMTPC), Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and  NDMA  for  the  design  and  construction  of  earthquake  resistant structures to minimize the loss of life and damage to property caused by earthquakes.  Loss  of  life  and  damage  of  property  due  to  earthquakes could be considerably reduced through proper planning and implementation of pre- and post-disaster preparedness and management strategies  by  respective  State  and  Central  Government  agencies  in  a coordinated  manner  following  the  above  mentioned  guidelines.  These studies  involving  preparation  of  geological,  geomorphological  and  land use  maps  followed  by  drilling,  geological  logging,  standard  penetration test  and  geophysical  studies  to  demarcate  the  zones  of  least  to  most damage prone areas within the urban areas so as to helps the respective town  and  country  planning  agencies  to  formulate  perspective  planning within the overall earthquake impact minimization efforts. Based on the above  steps  it  is  mandatory  for  all  infrastructure/building/  development agencies (Public and Private) to design appropriate earthquake resistant building plans based on the relevant BIS Codes and other guidelines of BMTPC, HUDCO and NDMA for across the country.

The Government has also implemented various programmes to educate and  raise  awareness  amongst  school  children  and  general  public  on various aspects of earthquakes, their impacts and measures to mitigate the losses. Following awareness programmes are organized by Government in preparing communities to respond the earthquake:

-  Earthquake  information  located  by  NCS  is  put  on  its  website  for public in general.
-  School  children  from  different  school  of  NCR  region  visit  the facilities  at  NCS  and  get  first  hand  information  on  earthquake monitoring in the country. School children also visit to the seismological observatories located in different parts of the country.
-  NCS  is  regularly  participating  in  MoES  exhibition  stall  at  India International  Trade  Fair  (IITF),  New  Delhi  and  in  Indian  National Science  Congress  yearly  event  by  putting  a  exhibition  stall  in seismology under MoES banner for visitors.

Annexure-A List of important towns falling in seismic zone II, III, IV and V

| Town         | State/UT       | Zone   | Town         | State/UT                 | Zone   |
|--------------|----------------|--------|--------------|--------------------------|--------|
| Agra         | Utter Pradesh  | III    | Chitradurga  | Karnataka                | II     |
| Ahmedabad    | Gujarat        | III    | Coimbatore   | Tamil nadu               | III    |
| Ajmer        | Rajasthan      | II     | Cuddalore    | Tamil Nadu               | III    |
| Allahabad    | Utter Pradesh  | II     | Cuttack      | Orissa                   | III    |
| Almora       | Uttrakhand     | IV     | Darbhanga    | Bihar                    | V      |
| Ambala       | Haryana        | IV     | Darjeeling   | West Bengal              | IV     |
| Amritsar     | Punjab         | IV     | Dharwad      | Karnataka                | III    |
| Asansol      | West Bengal    | III    | Dehradun     | Uttrakhand               | IV     |
| Aurangabad   | Maharastha     | II     | Dharmpuri    | Tamil Nadu               | III    |
| Baharich     | Utter Pradesh  | IV     | Delhi        | Delhi                    | IV     |
| Bangalore    | Karnataka      | II     | Durgapur     | West Bengal              | III    |
| Barauni      | Bihar          | IV     | Gangtok      | Sikkim                   | IV     |
| Bareilly     | Utter Pradesh  | III    | Guwahati     | Assam                    | V      |
| Belgaum      | Karnataka      | III    | Goa          | Goa                      | III    |
| Bhatinda     | Punjab         | III    | Gulbarga     | Karnataka                | II     |
| Bhilai       | Chattiagarh    | II     | Gaya         | Bihar                    | III    |
| Bhopal       | Madhya Pradesh | II     | Gorakhpur    | Utter Pradesh            | IV     |
| Bhubaneswa r | Orissa         | III    | Hyderabad    | Andhra Pradesh/Telangana | II     |
| Bhuj         | Gujarat        | V      | Imphal       | Manipur                  | V      |
| Bijapur      | Karnataka      | III    | Jabalpur     | Madhya Pradesh           | III    |
| Bikaner      | Rajasthan      | III    | Jaipur       | Rajasthan                | II     |
| Bokaro       | Jharkhand      | III    | Jamshedpu r  | Jharkhand                | II     |
| Bulandshahr  | Utter Pradesh  | IV     | Jhansi       | Utter Pradesh            | II     |
| Burdwan      | West Bengal    | III    | Jodhpur      | Rajasthan                | II     |
| Cailcut      | Kerala         | III    | Jorhat       | Assam                    | V      |
| Chandigarh   | Chandigarh     | IV     | Kakrapara    | Gujarat                  | III    |
| Chennai      | Tamil Nadu     | III    | Kalapakka m  | Tamil Nadu               | III    |
| Kanchipuram  | Tamil Nadu     | III    | Pondicherr y | Pondicherry              | II     |
| Kanpur       | Utter Pradesh  | III    | Pune         | Maharastha               | III    |

| Karwar          | Karnataka         | III   | Raipur              | Chattisgarh       | II   |
|-----------------|-------------------|-------|---------------------|-------------------|------|
| Kohima          | Nagaland          | V     | Rajkot              | Gujarat           | III  |
| Kolkata         | West Bengal       | III   | Ranchi              | Chattisgarh       | II   |
| Kota            | Rajasthan         | II    | Roorkee             | Uttrakhand        | IV   |
| Kurnool         | Andhra Pradesh    | II    | Rourkela            | Orissa            | II   |
| Lucknow         | Utter Pradesh     | III   | Sadiya              | Assam             | V    |
| Ludhiyana       | Punjab            | IV    | Salem               | Tamil Nadu        | III  |
| Madurai         | Tamil Nadu        | II    | Simla               | Himanchal Pradesh | IV   |
| Mandi           | Himanchal Pradesh | V     | Sironj              | Madhya Pradesh    | II   |
| Mangalore       | Karnataka         | III   | Solapur             | Maharastha        | III  |
| Monghyr         | Bihar             | IV    | Srinagar            | Jammu & Kashmir   | V    |
| Moradabad       | Utter Pradesh     | IV    | Surat               | Gujarat           | III  |
| Mumbai          | Maharastha        | III   | Tarapur             | Maharastha        | III  |
| Mysore          | Karnataka         | II    | Tezpur              | Assam             | V    |
| Nagpur          | Maharastha        | II    | Thane               | Maharastha        | III  |
| Nagarjunasa gar | Telangana         | II    | Thanjavur           | Tamil Nadu        | II   |
| Nainital        | Uttrakhand        | IV    | Thiruvanant hapuram | Kerala            | III  |
| Nasik           | Maharastha        | III   | Tiruchirapp ali     | Tamil Nadu        | II   |
| Nellore         | Andhra Pradesh    | III   | Tiruvennam alai     | Tamil Nadu        | III  |
| Osmanabad       | Maharastha        | III   | Udaipur             | Rajasthan         | II   |
| Panjim          | Goa               | III   | Vadodara            | Gujarat           | III  |
| Patiala         | Punjab            | III   | Varanasi            | Utter Pradesh     | III  |
| Patna           | Bihar             | IV    | Vellore             | Tamil Nadu        | III  |
| Pilibhit        | Utter Pradesh     | IV    | Vijayawada          | Andhra Pradesh    | III  |
|                 |                   |       | Vishakhapa tnam     | Andhra Pradesh    | II   |