Saral Study

In previous years, there have been many earthquakes that have hit the country and left a tragic impression. The country is still replenishing from the after-math of those natural disasters. Be it 26th January, 2001 or any other incident, there could be nothing worse than this act which devastated a million lives and property at the same time. Here is a list of the 10 Worst Earthquakes of India.

1. Indian Ocean Earthquake, 2004

Date – December 26th, 2004
Magnitude – 9.1-9.3
Time – 08:50 am
Death – More than 2,83,106 (includes deaths in other countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Somalia).
Epicenter – West coast of Sumatra, Indonesia (3.316°N 95.854°E)

Extreme scale of destruction is the worst memory of this earthquake. Islands in the middle of this ocean disappeared. The weirdest thing to remember about this calamity was that the newspaper initially only wrote about this incident as a tsunami. It gave it maximum coverage leaving business and sports pages.   These were a large scale destruction that took place on the following day of Christmas.

2 Kashmir Earthquake, 2005

Pakistan suffered more in this calamity as compared to India. The epicenter of the quake remained in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. Its magnanimity could be understood by the fact that even neighboring countries including China, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan felt the worst tremors. Relief material flowed in from every part of the world. A good memory was that the Indian Army helped in a big way by aiding to clear all the debris and distributed relief material. They also maintained medical camps in Pakistan as well as in India.

3) Bihar Earthquake, 1934

This is exactly similar to the Nepal incident which took place in Pokhara in which even some parts of India were affected. It took place in 1934 and that also on a larger scale (8.7 magnitude) causing widespread destruction. As of recent reports that were published the 2015 earthquake , the recent one was of 7.9 magnitude with more than 1500 people dead in India and Nepal. This was the worst form of human destruction ever.

Heaps of rubble after the Bihar Earthquake in 1934

4) Gujarat Earthquake, 2001

This is the worst memory of an earthquake ever registered in the minds of people. Normalcy could only be restored after a bloody 6 months of rigorous relief efforts that came in from all the sections of society. Help also poured in from all over the world but the serious damage had already been done.  Be it money, lives or even property everything was gone.

5) Kangra Earthquake, 1905

This was yet another one of the deadliest quakes that India faced happened in the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh. A lot more than 100,000 homes were destroyed and what remained were some scars of vegetation and animals. Scores of animals, trees, and the natural vegetation that the region had been completely gutted. This remains  the 2nd worst earthquake the world could have ever witnessed which comes after the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake since pre-independence.

6) Latur Earthquake, 1993

This was one of the fatal calamities for the state of Maharashtra. Though the magnitude recorded was 6.4 but the destruction that it caused was so huge. The most affected areas remained Latur and Osmanabad.  However, it brought attention to the need of developing places like Latur and these neglected areas of Maharashtra. The BBC covered this earthquake very well.

7) Assam Earthquake, 1950

This is yet another earthquake which took place on the national holiday of India. When the country was in its days of rejoicing its independence, this happened. Assam and Tibet were also hit. However, Assam bore the brunt of this quake than that of the region of Tibet. The after effects were a really strong flooding situation which added to the already gruesome situation.

8) Assam Earthquake, 1897

Why this happened twice in Assam has a reason-The north-eastern states of India fall under the zone 5 hazard seismic areas. Zone 5 has the highest risk area  of being affected as compared to Zone 1 being the lowest. States like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh from the north-east, Kashmir, and Gujarat all fall in the Zone 5  and thus were badly affected in this quake. This earthquake affected India, Tibet, and Burma.

9) Uttarkashi Earthquake, 1991

As much as  more than 1300 villages were destroyed. Many were badly  injured and the official death toll stood at 768 . However records say the death toll exceeds.

10) Koynanagar Earthquake, 1967

Koynanagar is actually the most seismically active area in the country. It has had a long history of earthquakes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_Koynanagar Many unknown earthquakes have happened at Koynanagar, the toll goes up to 20. The worst earthquake occurred on 14th April 2014. It lies in the Zone 4 of the hazard zoning and thus prone to seismic activity. Of all of them which were severe and that took place in 1967 with areas affecting to the tune of 25 kilometers, there were casualties of 180 and 1500 injured.

Earthquakes happen due to movement of the Earth’s crust. The movement releases enormous energy. This energy is spread outwards. The source of the movement is termed as the epicenter. Earthquakes can cause mass calamity. They are more dangerous in urban regions where high rise buildings are common. In thickly populated cities, Earthquakes can be devastating. There are multiple causes or reasons for earthquakes in India. The following are the top ten reasons for Earthquakes in India.

1. Volcanic activity

Exploding volcanoes release tremendous energy which offsets the Earth’s crust. This is the reason many earthquakes happen in and around volcanic regions. Earthquakes happening due to volcanic eruptions are called volcanic earthquakes.

2. Folding and faulting

When a fracture occurs in the plane on which the Earth’s crust resides, an earthquake can happen. This type of earthquake is caused either by vertical or horizontal displacements. The movement of rocks along these fractures causes the movement of earth’s crust.

3. Plate tectonics

The Earth’s surface is composed of plates. These plates are always moving. When these plates move, their margins become sites of earthquakes. That is why earthquakes are found to be frequent in plate boundaries.

4. Nuclear bombs

Human beings test nuclear bombs underground. The explosion releases shock waves. This situation can cause a minor earthquake. The overlying rocks become unstable. They shift their position. It induces a mass chain reaction of shifting rocks.

5. Construction activities

Blasting of rocks for construction work is common. Rocks are needed for construction. Blasts release energy and render the Earth’s crust unstable. In mountainous regions, rocks that were lying for millions of years could shift. A small shift releases outward energy that renders the whole region unstable. In this event, an earthquake happens.

6. Underground mining

Deep underground mining creates big gaps beneath the Earth’s surface. This does not do much for the stability of the Earth’s upper layer. Also, mining involves the use of explosives and bombs to blast open rocks. Similar to nuclear bombs, and construction related bombs, explosions for mining release shock waves.

7. Dams and reservoirs

Water held in dams and reservoirs exerts tremendous pressure on the ground surface. The ground surface spreads this pressure across to sustain itself. This is a natural phenomenon. But over a period of time, water disturbs the equilibrium of the Earth’s surface. The pressure could build up in a way so as to produce mild tremors. Over a period of time, a full-fledged earthquake can happen.

8. Landslides

Avalanches and landslides disturb the equilibrium of the Earth’s crust. They cause the Earth’s crust to send shock waves as a means to release and distribute energy. Landslides exert tremendous force on the Earth’s crust, which can even cause a full-blown plate movement several kilometers below the Earth’s crust.

9. Injecting liquid waste into the ground

In many parts of India, certain industries inject waste into the ground’s surface as a means of disposal. This process causes instability of the Earth’s crust and could lead to earthquakes.

10. Creating high rise buildings on inappropriate land

The creation of high rise buildings on land that is not capable of withstanding such pressure can cause Earthquakes.