Almost 59% of the land mass of India is prone to earthquakes

Minister of State (I/C) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Jitendra Singh informed the Lok Sabha that, a total of ~59% of the land mass of India (covering all states of India) is prone to earthquakes of different intensities.

As per the seismic zoning map of the country, the total area 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.

Seismic Zonation map of India

Seismic Zonation map of the country (state wise) given by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has categorised into several seismic zones (Zone II to Zone V) with variability of peak ground acceleration (PGA) (0.16g to > 0.36g) with of 10% of exceedance in PGA in 50-years as shown in figure below.

https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/image/image001V09R.jpg

According to this map the state of West-Bengal falls under Zone IV, III and II. Larger portion of West-Bengal state lies in Zone III. For the state of Uttar-Pradesh the state lies in Zone IV, III and II.

(Source: PIB)

Written by 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *