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Earthquak
Design
and
Construction

Where are the Seismic Zones in India?

across the central part
India lies at the northwestern end of theof peninsular India
layers
of
Indo-Australian Plate, which encompasses India,leaving
basalt
rock.
Coastal
Australia, a major portion of the Indian Ocean
and other smaller countries. This plate is areas like Kachchh
colliding against the huge Eurasian Plate (Figureshow marine deposits
to
1) and going under the Eurasian Plate; thistestifying
submergence
under
process of one tectonic plate getting under
another is called subduction. A sea, Tethys,the sea millions of
separated these plates before they collided. years ago.

Basic Geography and Tectonic Features

Part of the lithosphere, the Earths Crust, is Prominent Past

covered by oceans and the rest by the Earthquakes in India
continents. The former can undergo subduction
A
number
of
at great depths when it converges againstsignificant
another plate, but the latter is buoyant and soearthquakes occurred
tends to remain close to the surface. When in and around India
continents
converge,
large
amounts
ofover the past century
shortening and thickening takes place, like at (Figure 2). Some of
the Himalayas and the Tibet.
these
occurred
in
populated
and
urbanized areas and

Narmada
Plains
Godavari
Plains
Arabian Sea

Peninsular
India

Bay of Bengal

Geographica
Indo- l Layout and
Australian
Tectonic Plate
Plate Boundaries at
India

Figure 1:
country
topograp o owe
F
Three
chiefconsists
hy.
Thef d
our
tectonic sub-regions ofof ancient
rocks are
Grea
India are the mightyrocks
very
y
t
Himalayas along thedeformed
hard, bute
eart
north, the plains of thein
the
are
a
hqua
Ganges
and
otherpast
softened r
kes
rivers,
and
theHimalaya
by
s
(M>
peninsula.
Then-like
weatherin
8)
Himalayas
consistcollisions.
g
neara
occu
primarily of sedimentsErosion
the
g
rred
accumulated
overhas
surface. o
in a
long geological time inexposed
Before
,
span
the Tethys. The Indo-the roots
the
l
of
Gangetic basin withof the old
Himalaya a
53
deep alluvium is amountain
n
v
year
great
depressions
and
collision, a
s
caused by the load ofremoved
several
from
the Himalayas on themost
of
tens
off
1897
continent.
Thethe
millions l
to
peninsular part of the

hence caused great

damage. Many went
unnoticed, as they
occurred deep under
the Earths surface or
in
relatively
uninhabited
places.
Some of the damaging
and
recent
earthquakes are listed
in
Table
1.
Most
earthquakes
occur
along the Himalayan
plate boundary (these
are
inter-plate
earthquakes), but a
number
of
earthquakes have also
occurred
in
the
peninsular
region
(these are intra-plate
earthquakes).

Eurasian Plate In
do
G
an
Himalayas
ge
tic

<5
Figure 2:
5<6Some
6<7Past

Plains
Mahana
di
Plains

kes

Earthqua
19 7)
is
50 almost as
; large.
th Each
of
e these
Ja caused
nu disasters,
ar but also
y allowed
20 us
to
01 learn
Bh about
uj earthqua
ea kes and
rt to
hq advance
ua earthqua
ke ke
(M engineeri
7. ng.
For

instance,
1819
Cutch
Earthqua
ke
produced
an
unpreced
ented
~3m high
uplift
of
the
ground
over
100km
(called
Allah
Bund).
The 1897
Assam

Earthquake
causedthe
severe damage up tointensity
500km
radialscale
distances; the type offrom I-X
damage sustained ledto
I-XII.
to improvements inExtensive
7

liquefacti l
on of thee
ground n
took
g
place
t
over
ah

ofSlu
300 mp
km Belt)
(call duri
ed ng
the 1934

Bi earthqua
ha ke
in
r- which
Nemany
pa structure
l s
went

afloat.

IITK-BMTPC Earthquake Tip 4

Where are the Seismic Zones in
India?

page
2
seismic zone map in 1962, which was later
revised in

Table 1: Some Past Earthquakes in India

Date
1
6
1
2

June
1819
June
1897

Event
Cutch
Assam

Time
11:0
0
17:1
1

Magnitud Max. Death

Intensit
e
s
y
8.3

VIII

1,500

8.7

XII

1,500

6.0

Nil

8 Feb. 1900 Coimbatore

03:1
1

4 Apr. 1905 Kangra

06:2
0

8.6

19,000

1
14:1
5 Jan. 1934 Bihar-Nepal 3

8.4

11,000

7.6

30,000

8.5

1,530

7.0

IX

115

6.5

VIII

200

5.4

VII

30

6.6

IX

1,004

6.6

IX

768

6.4

IX

7,928

6.0

VIII

38

6.6

VIII

63

7.7

13,805

9.3

VII

10,749

3 May
1 1935
Quetta
15 Aug.
1950
Assam
2
1 Jul. 1956 Anjar
1 Dec.
0 1967
Koyna
2 Mar.
3 1970
Bharuch
2 Aug.
1 1988
Bihar-Nepal
2 Oct.
0 1991
Uttarkashi
3 Sep.
Killari
0 1993
(Latur)
2 May
2 1997
Jabalpur
2 Mar.
9 1999
Chamoli
2
6 Jan. 2001 Bhuj
2 Dec.
6 2004
Sumatra

03:0
3
19:3
1
21:0
2
04:3
0
20:5
6
04:3
9
02:5
3
03:5
3
04:2
2
12:3
5
08:4
6
06:2
8

1967 and again in 1970. The map has been revised

again in 2002 (Figure 4), and it now has only

four
seismic zones II, III, IV and V. The areas falling
in
seismic zone I in the 1970 version of the map
are
merged with those of seismic zone II. Also, the
seismic
zone map in the peninsular region has been
modified.
Madras now comes in seismic zone III as against
in
zone II in the 1970 version of the map. This
2002
seismic zone map is not the final word on the
seismic
hazard of the country, and hence there can be
no sense
of complacency in this regard.

The timing of the earthquake during the day

and during the year critically determines the
number of casualties. Casualties are expected
to be high for earthquakes that strike during
cold winter nights, when most of the population
is indoors.

Seismic Zones of India

The varying geology at different locations in

the country implies that the likelihood of
damaging earthquakes taking place at different
locations is different. Thus, a seismic zone map is
required to identify these regions. Based on the
levels of intensities sustained during damaging
past earthquakes, the 1970 version of the zone
map subdivided India into five zones I, II, III, IV
and V (Figure 3). The maximum Modified Mercalli
(MM) intensity of seismic shaking expected in
these zones were V or less, VI, VII, VIII, and IX and
higher, respectively. Parts of Himalayan boundary
in the north and northeast, and the Kachchh area
in the west were classified as zone V.

Figure 4:
India
n
Seis
mic
Zone
Map
as
per
IS:18
93
(Part
1)2002

The
national
Seismic
Zone
Map
presents a large-scale
view of the seismic
zones in the country.
Local variations in soil
type
and
geology
cannot be represented
at
that
scale.
Therefore,
for
important
projects,
such as a major dam
or a nuclear power
plant,
the
seismic
hazard is evaluated
specifically for that
site. Also, for the
purposes
of
urban
planning, metropolitan
areas are microzoned.
Seismic microzonation
accounts
for
local
variations in geology,

local soil profile, etc,.

Reading Material

Dasgupta,S., et al, (2000),

Seismotectonic Atlas of
Indian and its Environs,
BMTPC, (1997), Vulnerability Atlas of India, Building Materials
Geological Survey of India
and Technology Promotion Council, Ministry of Urban IS:1893,
(1984),
Indian
Development, Government of India, New Delhi

Authored by:
C.V.R.Murty
In
di
an
In
sti
tu
Figure 3: Indian Seismic Zone
te
Map of 1970
of
The seismic zone maps are Te
revised from time to time as ch
more understanding is gained on no
the geology, the seismotectonics lo
and the seismic activity in the gy
Ka
country. The Indian Standards
np
provided the first
ur
8

Standard
Criteria
for
Earthquake
Resistant
Design
of
Structures,
Bureau
of
Indian
Standards, New Delhi

Ka
India
np
This release is a
ur,
property of IIT
In
Kanpur
and
di
BMTPC
New
a
Delhi. It may be
Sponsored by:
reproduced
Building
without changing
Materials
its contents and
and
with
due
Technolo
acknowledgemen
gy
t.
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n
ments may be
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