ANSWER
MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND
MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(Dr. HARSH VARDHAN)
(a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (d) TO STARRED QUESTION NO. *126 REGARDING Earthquake Prone Areas TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2018.
a) Yes Madam. Earthquake monitoring of the country is done on round the clock basis by the National Seismological Network spread over the country and earthquake prone regions/ areas have been demarcated. The main cause of earthquakes in Indian regions are due to Indian plate motion towards northeast at a rate of about 52 mm/year and its collision with Eurasian plate in the north and with Sunda plate in the east.
MoES has sponsored several research projects for seismological related studies in earthquake prone regions/areas.
b) The seismological hazard of the country has been assessed under the auspices of Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), and country is grouped into four seismic zones viz. Zone-II, -III, -IV and –V. Of these, Zone V is seismically the most prone region, while Zone II is the least.
Broadly, Zone-V comprises of entire northeastern India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, part of North Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Zone-IV covers remaining parts of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, Union Territory of 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 comprises of Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep islands, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Zone-II covers remaining parts of the country.
Guidelines have been published by the Bureau of IndianStandards (BIS), Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC),Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the design andconstruction of earthquake resistant structures to minimize the loss of life and damage toproperty caused by earthquakes. These guidelines are in wide circulation amongst thepublic and the administrative authorities responsible for the design and construction ofearthquake resistant structures in earthquake prone areas.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other state Disaster Management Authorities have also taken up various initiatives to educate and bring awareness amongst general public and school children on the general aspects of earthquakes, their impacts and measures to mitigate losses caused by them.
c-d) Change of ground water table and other anthropogenic activities and their influence on earthquake occurrence, have been studied in various regions of the world including Indian region. This process may only trigger an earthquake but it may not cause it as the main reason of earthquake occurrence is tectonic forces. Public awareness about earthquake occurrence in the country has been created through outreach and school education programs, supported by MoES and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
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