Earthquake: Do this work first as soon as you feel the tremors of the earthquake
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
The entire north of India, including Delhi-NCR, was shaken by the strong tremors of the earthquake around 10:30 PM on Tuesday night. Hundreds of earthquakes occur in India every year. Some are very mild, some are moderate. Some shake the ground more and some scare you. The Bureau of Indian Standards has divided the entire country into 5 earthquake zones. 59 percent of the country is in the earthquake risk zone. The 5th zone is considered the most dangerous and active. There are a total of 7 plates in the earth and they are constantly moving. Where plates collide with each other are called fracture zones. The motion that occurs due to the energy coming from the plate collision is called an earthquake.
The seven major plates are African, Antarctic, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, North American, Pacific and South American. Tectonic plates are huge pieces of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. These are made of oceanic crust and continental crust. Earthquakes occur around major fault lines that mark mid-ocean ridges and plate boundaries. The earth remains dynamic due to the movement of tectonic plates. The map of tectonic plates shows where volcanoes and earthquakes occur. The closer the epicenter of an earthquake is to the surface, the greater the devastation.
These are the five zones that are considered sensitive
Zone 5: The risk of earthquakes is greatest here. The 5th zone has 11 percent of the country’s total plot. It includes Kashmir, the western and central Himalayas, northern and central Bihar, Northeast, Rann of Kutch, Andaman-Nicobar Islands, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
Zone 4: This includes metropolises like Mumbai, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, large parts of Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, North Punjab, large parts of Uttarakhand, Western Gujarat, hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh, Latur-Patan area of Maharashtra and Bihar- Border areas of Nepal. Earthquakes keep coming here from time to time. The country’s share in this is about 18 percent. Different areas of the same state are in different zones.
Zone-3 & 2: There is less risk of earthquakes here. Even when earthquakes happen, there is not much loss of life and property. It consists of parts of Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra, Western Rajasthan, Eastern Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Zone 2 consists of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and parts of Haryana. About 30-30 percent of the country falls into the third and second zones.
area 1 : This is the safest part in terms of earthquakes. It consists of parts of Western Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa. This is 11 percent of the total area.
Delhi in high risk seismic zone
Experts believe that Delhi is in the high risk seismic zone hence strong earthquakes are felt here. Due to the increasing population and rapid construction of high-rise buildings in NCR, Delhi NCR has become more vulnerable to earthquakes. Delhi lies on the three most active seismic fault lines. It consists of Sohna Fault Line, Mathura Fault Line and Delhi-Moradabad Fault Line. Apart from this, Gurugram is also located on the seven most active seismic fault lines making NCR a dangerous area apart from Delhi.
More than 5,000 earthquakes go unnoticed
According to the Richter scale, the number of earthquakes with a magnitude of less than 2.0 is more than 5,000 per day. People don’t feel this at all. Every day, some 800 to 1,000 aftershocks with a magnitude of 2.0 to 2.9 on the Richter scale are recorded. Usually this is not even felt. Similarly, earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 to 3.9 are recorded about 25 to 30 thousand times a year, which are not often felt, but sometimes they are. Earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 to 4.9 are recorded about 4,000 times a year. It feels shaky.
- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 to 5.9 can cause severe damage to weak houses in a small area. If the earthquake area is around the population, earthquakes of magnitude up to 5.9 prove to be dangerous. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 to 6.9 proves fatal within a radius of up to 160 km.
- Earthquakes cause more damage to the upper floors and foundations can crack. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 to 7.9 can cause massive devastation over a large area, as happened recently in Turkey and Syria. Even strong buildings collapse due to such violent quakes. Seismic quakes ranging in intensity from 8.0 to 8.9 can wreak havoc over an area of hundreds of kilometers. There is also a threat of a tsunami and major bridges are getting stuck.
- Similarly, a magnitude 9.0 to 9.9 earthquake can wreak havoc in an area of thousands of miles. If the intensity of the earthquake exceeds 9, the earth will shake even while standing. Earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 6.0 occur only once a year.
(TagsToTranslate)Delhi news