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List of Earthquake Seismic Zones in India

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What is an Earthquake?

An earthquake is simply a rapid vibration of the earth’s surface which arises due to the movement of the rocks (commonly called ‘plates’) under the surface of the earth. This happens due to elastic or isostatic adjustment attained by these rocks as a result of a human or natural activity. These vibrations may be as small as even unnoticeable to as strong and destructive enough to make buildings collapse down. As we all are aware that India, these days, is witnessing frequent tremors of earthquakes mainly in the Delhi-NCR and neighbouring regions. Indian cities, particularly towards the north & those which are closer to the Himalayas, have recorded bigger threats in the past. The Delhi-NCR belt and the regions adjacent to the Yamuna river etc., also fall under high-risk zones.

The point at which the seismic waves originate is called the focus. The focus lies below the earth’s surface. The point perpendicularly just above the focus is known as the ‘epicentre’. The earthquake is the first (and strongest) observed at the epicentre. The strength of the originated seismic waves is defined by the ‘elastic energy, which is the energy that is dissipated from the focus. 


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Image: The Earthquake Anatomy


Seismic Zones of India

Indian landmark has been classified into four seismic zones of India (often called ‘earthquake zones in India’). These are termed as zones II, III, IV and V. In this classification, zone V consists of the ‘very severe intensity zone’ (most seismic prone regions), zone IV is the ‘severe intensity zone’, zone III is the ‘moderate-intensity zone’ and zone II is the ‘low-intensity zone’ (least seismic prone).


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Image: Location of earthquake zones in India


List of Earthquake Zones in India

The variations in the geological situations of various regions imply variations in the likelihood of damages that could be caused by earthquake prone areas in India. Thus, it becomes necessary to draft the seismic zone map in order to identify these regions. Based on the intensities sustained during past damaging earthquakes, the 1970 version of the seismic zone map had five subdivisions of earthquake zones in India; zones-I, II, III, IV and V. The maximum Modified Mercalli (MM) intensity of seismic vibrations expected in these zones were V or less, VI, VII, VIII, and IX and higher, respectively. The map of the earthquake zone in India has been revised again in 2002. The earthquake prone areas in India are marked on the map. Now the number of seismic zones was reduced to four divisions; zones-II, III, IV and V. Also, the seismic zone map in the Peninsular regions was redistributed. Since this revision of the map, Madras comes under zone-III as against Zone-II in the older 1970 version of the seismic zone map.

  • Zone-V (most earthquake prone areas in India):

This zone contains mostly the northeastern part of the country. It includes Jammu and Kashmir,  Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rann of Kutch of Gujarat, North Bihar and Andaman and Nicobar islands.

  • Zone-IV:

The parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, 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:

  • This zone comprises Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and West Bengal, parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamilnadu and Karnataka.

  • Zone-II (least earthquake prone areas in India):

The zone covers the remaining parts of the country.

The list of earthquake-prone areas in India is given below.


City/Town

State/UT

Zone

City/Town

State/UT

Zone

Agra

Uttar Pradesh

III

Chitradurga

Karnataka

II

Ahmedabad

Gujrat

III

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

III

Ajmer

Rajasthan

II

Cuddalore

Tamil Nadu

III

Allahabad

Uttar 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

Maharashtra

II

Dharmapuri

Tamil Nadu

III

Bacharach

Uttar Pradesh

IV

Delhi

Delhi

IV

Bangalore

Karnataka

II

Durgapur

West Bengal

III

Barauni

Bihar

IV

Gangtok

Sikkim

IV

Bareilly

Uttar Pradesh

III

Guwahati

Assam

V

Belgaum

Karnataka

III

Goa

Goa

III

Bhatinda

Bhatinda

III

Gulbarga

Karnataka

II

Bhilai

Chattisgarh

II

Gaya

Bihar

III

Bhopal

Madhya Pradesh

II

Gorakhpur

Uttar Pradesh

IV

Bhubaneswar

Orissa

III

Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh

II

Bhuj

Gujarat

V

Imphal

Manipur

V

Bijapur

Karnataka

III

Jabalpur

Madhya Pradesh

III

Bikaner

Rajasthan

III

Jaipur

Rajasthan

II

Bokaro

Jharkhand

III

Jamshedpur

Jharkhand

II

Bulandshahr

Uttar Pradesh

IV

Jhansi

Uttar Pradesh

II

Burdwan

West Bengal

III

Jodhpur

Rajasthan

II

Kota

Rajasthan

II

Roorkee

Uttrakhand

IV

Kurnool

Andhra Pradesh

II

Rourkela

Orissa

II

Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh

III

Sadiya

Assam

V

Ludhiyana

Punjab

II

Salem

Tamil Nadu

IV

Madurai

Tamil Nadu

II

Simla

Himachal Pradesh

IV

Mandi

Himachal Pradesh

V

Sironj

Madhya Pradesh

II

Mangalore

Karnataka

III

Solapur

Maharashtra

III

Monghyr

Bihar

IV

Srinagar

Jammu & Kashmir

V

Calicut

Kerala

III

Jorhat

Assam

V

Chandigarh

Chandigarh

IV

Kakrapara

Gujarat

III

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

III

Kalapakkam

Tamil Nadu

III

Kanchipuram

Tamil Nadu

III

Pondicherry

Pondicherry

II

Kanpur

Uttar Pradesh

III

Pune

Maharashtra

III

Karwar

Karnataka

III

Raipur

Chattisgarh

II

Kohima

Nagaland

V

Rajkot

Gujarat

III

Kolkata

West Bengal

III

Ranchi

Chattisgarh

II

Nellore

Andhra Pradesh

III

Tiruvannamalai

Tamil Nadu

III

Osmanabad

Maharashtra

III

Udaipur

Rajasthan

II

Panjim

Goa

III

Vadodara

Gujarat

III

Patiala

Punjab

III

Varanasi

Uttar Pradesh

III

Patna

Bihar

IV

Vellore

Andhra Pradesh

III

Pilibhit

Uttrakhand

IV

Vijayawada

Andhra Pradesh

II

Moradabad

Uttar Pradesh

IV

Surat

Gujarat

III

Mumbai

Maharashtra

III

Tarapur

Maharashtra

III

Mysore

Karnataka

II

Tezpur

Assam

V

Nagpur

Maharashtra

II

Thane

Maharashtra

III

Nagarjunasagar

Andhra Pradesh

II

Thanjavur

Tamil Nadu

II

Nainital

Uttrakhand

IV

Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala

III

Nasik

Maharashtra

III

Tiruchirappalli

Tamil Nadu

II


Distribution of Earthquakes in India

The seismic zones of India are mostly distributed over the areas of Kashmir, the Western and Central Himalayas, Bihar, the North-East Indian region, the Rann of Kutch of Gujrat state and the Andaman and Nicobar islands.


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Image: India Earthquake Zone Map


Prominent Past Earthquakes in India

Over the past century, India witnessed a number of significant earthquake tremors frequently in some regions. Many of them took place in urban and populated areas leading to huge losses of lives and property while others went unnoticed due to the reasons that they either occurred deep inside the earth’s crust or they originated too far from the inhabited regions and hence were weak enough to even not get noticed by anyone.

Earthquakes in India, mostly occur in the Himalayan plate boundary (interplate-earthquakes). But some of them also occurred in the Peninsular region (intraplate earthquakes). In the 53 years from 1897 to 1950, four great earthquakes took place with M>8. Later in January 2001, another earthquake with similar strength of M7.7 was encountered at Bhuj.

These past earthquakes caused disasters but their experiences took the attention of the geologists and researchers to learn more about them and this led to the advancement of earthquake engineering. For instance, the 1819 Cutch earthquake produced an

unprecedented uplift of the ground of about 3m height over 100km (called Allah Bund). The 1897 Assam earthquake brought huge destruction over 500km radial range. The type of damage sustained led to the extension of the intensity scale from I-X to I-XII. The 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake caused extensive liquefaction of the ground over a distance of 300km (called the Slump Belt) in which many structures were damaged and went afloat.


Did You Know?

  • Before a region is hit by an earthquake, the concentration of Radon gas usually increases in the atmosphere in that region. The rise in the amount of Radon gas indicates that the seismic waves might hit the region soon. Various studies have been done which suggest that the elevated amount of Radon gas in soil and groundwater may be the sign of an upcoming earthquake.

  • The intensity (or strength) of an earthquake is measured using an instrument called ‘Seismograph’ which is sensitive to the vibrations that occur when a tremor strikes. It is helpful in providing valuable information regarding the earthquake such as the intensity (measured in various scales like Rossi-Forel scale, Mercalli scale, and Richter scale), duration of the vibrations etc.

FAQs on List of Earthquake Seismic Zones in India

1. How Many Seismic Zones are in India?

Answer: There are four seismic zones or earthquake zones in India namely: are (i) Zone-V (most earthquake-prone areas in India): Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, part of North Bihar and Andaman and Nicobar islands. (ii) Zone-IV: The rest part of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, 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. (iii) Zone-III: This zone comprises Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and West Bengal, parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. (iv) Zone-II (least earthquake-prone areas in India): This zone covers the remaining parts of the country.

2. What are the Most Dangerous Seismic Zones of India?

Answer: Zone V is the most dangerous seismic zones of India it includes all the northeastern parts of India such as  Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, some parts of Gujarat, North Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This seismic zone is analysed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.