Seismic Zoning in India

India has experienced many a devastating earthquakes. The occurrence of earthquakes is not evenly
distributed in India. Major earthquakes of India are associated with the collision of plate boundary
between the Indian and Eurasian plates. The occurrence of earthquake is irregular in the southern India,
whereas the northeastern, the northern and the northwestern part of India are subjected to regular
earthquakes. The Himalayan Frontier is seismically one of the most active regions of the world. The
peninsular India is also not devoid of earthquakes. It was recently significant for three severe earthquakes
such as Killari in 1993, Jabalpur in 1997 and Bhuj in 2001.
WHAT IS SEISMIC ZONING?
Seismic Zoning can be defined as a process by which areas are subdivided into seismic zones based on
expected of ground motion, which is expressed in terms of peak horizontal ground acceleration (PGA) or
peak ground velocity (PGV). On the other way, seismic Zonation demarcates equal hazard with respect to
a characteristic of strong ground shaking and of site or structural response. A seismic zoning map differs
from seismicity map by the fact that it specifies the levels of force or ground motions for earthquake
resistance design, where as seismicity map provides location and characteristics of earthquakes.
WHY SEISMIC ZONATION IS NECESSARY IN INDIA?
Seismic zonation is a process, which provided information about any decision making for urban regional
planning or for earthquake design in earthquake areas. In principle, seismic zoning map is the main
source for zoning, which is displaying quantities related to the expected frequency and intensity of
shaking caused by earthquakes. The task of seismic zoning is multidisciplinary and involves the best of
inputs from geologists, geotechnical’s, seismologists, earthquake and structural engineers. The rapid
urbanization due to population outburst, coming up of mega cities in potential seismic zones is the main
reason for seismic hazard in India.
The first national seismic zoning map of India was compiled by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in
1935 (Auden, 1959) after the great Bihar –Nepal earthquake of 15 January 1934 with magnitude 8.4.
Tandon (1956) first came up with the seismic zoning map of India. It consists of three zones (Severe,
Light and Minor hazard) based on the broad concept of space–t ime earthquake statistics and the
prevailing understanding of geotectonic. Then in 1962, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (earlier,
Indian Standards Institution) published the seismic zonation map of India (IS: 1893"1962). It is made
based on earthquake epicenters and the isoseismic map
published by the GSI in 1935, where India was divided into seven zones ranging from 0 (no damage) to
VI (extensive damage) as shown in Fig.1a. There arose the need to utilize both geological and
geophysical data to review the zoning. This zonation map consists of five zones in different colors such as
I, II(less-active), III(moderate), IV (High) and V (very highly dangerous zone) on the basis of MMI –
Modified Mercali Intensity Scale-with CIS – 64 scale such as I, II, III, IV and V (Table 1).
1. Seismic Zoning Map of a country is not only guiding to the seismic status and susceptibility of a
region, but also zoning indicates the direction of future work basically aimed at designing
(Krishna, 1992).
2. Seismic zonation is useful in disaster management.
3. Such maps are quite useful to assess the suitability of construction of a dam, factory or a high-
rise building.
4. Helps one in assessing the safety of an area for residential buildings and also in using such
materials as apt as seismic-proof to prevent damages in the event of an earthquake.