HYDERABAD: In an attempt to measure the extent of loss that can be caused by earthquakes and subsequent building collapse, scientists are quantifying data to ascertain the probable property loss due to shaking of the ground. Scientists at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) are conducting a study to bring out a risk map to know the vulnerability of buildings prone to earthquakes at seismically active zones in India.
According to United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) report on ‘the human cost of weather-related disasters’ between 1995-2015, 92 per cent of economic damage caused due to geophysical disaster in the entire world is shared by India and China. The economic damage at the two nations was estimated to be 709 billion dollars while the damage estimated in the entire world was 763 billion dollars.
“Risk maps for critical areas where amplification of earthquakes are high is being prepared,” said Dr D Sri Nagesh, head of Seismology Observatory in NGRI, adding that Dehradun, Lucknow, and Indo-Gangetic plains are currently being studied. More than 2,000 buildings with different typologies and construction methodologies are being examined in each place, he informed.
Commissioned by the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a Fast Track Translationary Project (FTTP) to assess the micro-seismic hazard of the region and ground motion response spectrum is being prepared. “Assessing vulnerability will allow for retrofitting to be done. It will aid constructors to have a different construction methodology in areas where there is more scope for an earthquake,” observed Nagesh. The observations have been submitted to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), that categorises earthquake vulnerability in India, he added.