Lok Sabha Question No. 5502 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Frequent Earthquake
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Badruddin Ajmal

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5502 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 5 TH  APRIL, 2023

## FREQUENT EARTHQUAKE

## 5502.        SHRI M. BADRUDDIN AJMAL:

Will the Minister of Earth Sciences be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that frequent earthquakes have been  striking  various  areas  in  the  country  specially  the  capital  city  of  Delhi  and adjoining areas as well as North East States and hill-States during the last few years;
- (b) if so, the facts in this regard;
- (c) if so, whether this is due to the increasing impact of climate change; and
- (d) if  so,  the  details  of  the  preventive  steps  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the Government?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) to (d) National Centre for Seismology (NCS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences is the nodal agency of Government of India for monitoring earthquakes through a National Seismological  Network  consisting  of  152  observatories  spread  across  the  country. The information of earthquakes reported by NCS is disseminated to the concerned central  and  state  disaster  authorities  in  least  possible  time  through  its  website  and other social media platforms to help initiate the adequate mitigation measures. The detailed information about the earthquakes are also made available on the website of NCS (www. seismo.gov.in).

A total of ~59% of the land mass of India is prone to earthquakes of different shaking intensities.  As  per  the  seismic  zoning  map  of  the  country,  the  entire  country  is classified  into  four  seismic  zones.  Zone  V  is  seismically  the  most  active  region, while zone II is the least. Approximately, ~ 11% area of the country falls in zone V, ~18% in zone IV, ~ 30% in zone III and remaining in zone II.

Details of states and areas in the country falling in seismic zones V and IV (based on seismic zoning map of India) are given below:

- Zone V Parts of Jammu and Kashmir (Kashmir valley), western part of Himachal Pradesh, Eastern part of Uttarakhand, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, part of Northern Bihar, all northeastern states of India and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- Zone IV remaining  parts  of  Jammu  &  Kashmir,  Ladakh,  remaining  part  of Himachal  Pradesh  and  Uttarakhand,  Some  parts  of  Haryana,  Parts  of Punjab, Delhi, Sikkim, northern  part of  Uttar Pradesh, small portions of Bihar and West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast and small part of western Rajasthan.

Recent studies have unraveled that climate changes may modulate the occurrences of micro-level  seismicity  in  the  Polar  and  the  Himalayan  regions  due  to  melting  of thicker ice sheets by reducing the loads on the crust to bring the brittle failures interns of very micro-level earthquakes (M <3.0), acting as one of the proxies of the climate change.

Several  awareness programs are being regularly  organized for taking precautionary steps during earthquakes through the Mock Drills on earthquake safety programs to sensitize several agencies towards earth quack risk mitigations.

NCS  is  disseminating  earthquake  related  parameters  to  various  stakeholders  of national,  and  state  levels  to  understand  the  earthquake  potential  zones  in  different parts of the targeted areas. Additionally, seismic microzonation work of NCT-Delhi carried out on 1:10000 scale and report was also made available to Bureau of Indian Standards  (BIS)  to  revise  the  present  Building  Design  code  into  Earthquake  Risk resilient  code  for  structures  and  buildings  in  NCT-Delhi.  There  is  a  need  for retrofitting  of  older  buildings  and  the  same  are  being  adopted  by  DDMA  and  state Government for enhancing resilience to earthquake shakings.

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