Lok Sabha Question No. 470 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-24
Subject: High Seismic Risk Zone in Himalayan Region
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Kalyan Banerjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 470

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2023

## High Seismic Risk Zone in Himalayan Region

## 470. SHRI KALYAN BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of action taken by the Government for the protection of high seismic risk zone of Himalayan region and the fragile ecology of the mountain range which are vulnerable to frequent extreme weather events and landslides; and
- (b) the details of Report of the National Remote Sensing Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation on the places of the region that are on high alert of land subsidence and/or slides along the hilly border areas of the country and action proposes thereon?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) Various organisations of Government of India are involved in seismic zonation mapping and regular monitoring for identification of high seismic risk zone prone areas across the Country in order to mitigate their effect.

The National Centre for Seismology under the Ministry of Earth Sciences monitors the earthquake activity in and around the Country on 24x7 basis with special emphasis to the Himalayan regions having high seismic potential. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology under the Department of Science and Technology has about 70 broadband seismograph stations operational in the Northwest and Northeast Himalaya for monitoring earthquake activities,  evaluation  of  seismic  hazards,  and  earthquake  precursory  studies.  Since,  an earthquake  can  trigger  landslides,  landslide  susceptibility  and  vulnerability  maps  by incorporating  tectonic  activity  based  on  machine  learning  algorithms  have  also  been prepared.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has carried out landslide susceptibility zonation  mapping  along  with  Northwest  and  Northeast  Himalaya.  ISRO  has  also established  a  network  of  30  Global  Navigation  Satellite  System  based  Continuously

Operating  Reference  Stations  across  Himalayan  belt  to  monitor  the  process  of  crustal deformation. In addition to above, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has carried out research and development studies with field validation across the landslide prone areas of the Country. GSI has also installed permanent Global Positioning System (GPS) stations in different parts of the Country with an aim to monitor plate movement and also map areas with strain in homogeneity. GSI has established Seismo-Geodetic Data Receiving and  Processing  Centre  which  receives  and  processes  real  time  Seismo-Geodetic  Data from Remote Broadband Seismic Observatories located in various parts of the Country.

The information on seismic activities recorded by these organizations gets disseminated to all stakeholders including state and central disaster management authorities for use in regional developmental planning of hill areas and further research studies for use in the management of seismic disasters in the Country.

In order to protect the environment including mountain ranges, the Government of India has adopted the National Environment Policy in 2006. The Policy recognizes the role of mountain ecosystems in maintaining the ecological balance of the region and emphasizes upon  to promote appropriate land use planning and watershed  management  for sustainable development of mountain ecosystems. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and  Climate  Change  has  established  the  Govind  Ballabh  Pant  National  Institute  of Himalayan Environment as a focal agency to advance scientific knowledge and to evolve integrated management strategies for conservation of biodiversity and natural resources in  the  Indian  Himalayan  Region.  Among  other  initiatives,  the  National  Mission  for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem under Department of Science and Technology aims at evolving management measures for sustaining and safeguarding the mountain ecosystem.

- (b) The National Remote Sensing Centre has prepared a Landslide Atlas of India in 2023 that shows  landslides  occurred  during  1998-2022  within  the  hilly  regions  of  India.  The database  covers  landslide  vulnerable  regions  in  17  States  and  02  Union  Territories  of India in the Himalayas and Western Ghats. This landslide database was used to rank 147 hilly districts of India in terms of their exposure to landslide risk in terms of key socioeconomic parameters. The database also highlights the advanced techniques in landslide detection, modeling and prediction.