On account of its geo-climatic conditions, the Indian sub-continent is highly prone to multiple natural disasters including earthquakes, which is one of the most destructive natural hazards with the potentiality of inflicting huge loss to lives and property.  Earthquakes pose a real threat to India with 55% of its geographical area vulnerable to seismic disturbance of varying intensities including the capital city of the Country. Almost the entire northeast region, northern Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and some parts of Kutch are in seismic zone V, while the entire Gangetic plain and some parts of Rajasthan are in seismic zone IV.

India has experienced some of the most intense earthquakes in the world and is also one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world. Data from 1897-1991 shows that an average of three earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or more, occur in India every year and the high degree of seismic vulnerability of the country poses a real threat to the millions of its people.

In the span of last 15 years, India has experienced six earthquakes of moderate intensity. Although moderate in intensity, these earthquakes caused considerably high degree of losses to human life and property, which highlights the vulnerability of the population and infrastructure to earthquakes and the inadequacy of preparedness measures in the country. The Lattur earthquake of 1993 and the Bhuj earthquake of  2001 which caused extensive damage to lives and properties further highlighted the need to focus upon long-term seismic mitigation and preparedness in order to reduce the human and economic losses due to earthquakes.

Initiatives taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA):

The Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal Ministry for Disaster Management in the country (except for disasters such as droughts and epidemics). After the transfer of the subject to MHA from Ministry of Agriculture, there has been a paradigm shift in focus from ‘reactive’ relief  to ‘proactive’ mitigation and preparedness. MHA have taken a number of initiatives to strengthen disaster management systems in the country and the focus of MHA’s efforts is basically to build up the capabilities at all levels necessary for preparing for and  handling all types of disasters. With the  above objectives in view, a National Disaster Management Framework (National Roadmap) was drawn up with the approval of Deputy Prime Minister listing the areas of cooperation/initiatives required to reduce our vulnerability to disasters and to upgrade capabilities at all levels for responding to disasters. The important sectors covered in the National Roadmap include institutional structures, disaster prevention/mitigation projects, early warning systems, preparedness, quick response and human resource development.