NEW DELHI, July 30: Twenty-nine Indian cities and towns, including Delhi and capitals of nine states, fall under ‘severe’ to ‘very severe’ seismic zones, according to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS). A majority of these places are in the Himalayas, one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Delhi, Patna, Srinagar, Kohima, Puducherry, Guwahati, Gangtok, Shimla, Dehradun, Imphal and Chandigarh fall under seismic zones IV and V. These cities have a combined population of over three crore. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has classified different regions in the country into zones II to V, taking into consideration earthquake records, tectonic activities and damage caused, NCS director Vineet Gauhlat said.
The NCS, which records earthquakes and carries out studies pertaining to microzonation of cities, comes under the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Seismic microzonation is the process of subdividing a region into smaller areas having different potential for hazardous earthquake effects. Zone II is considered the least seismically active, while Zone V is the most active. Zone IV and V fall under “severe” to “very severe” categories respectively. – PTI
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