Explained: Should India fear earthquakes like Syria and Turkey?

The combined death toll in both countries surpassed 28,000 and incidents like these throw light on what impact a natural disaster can have.

Hyderabad: Homes in shambles, lives disrupted, mass migration, property loss, devastating effects on the economy, hunger, and even instances of looting ration at the gun point — are all the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6.

The combined death toll in both countries surpassed 28,000 and incidents like these throw light on what impact a natural disaster can have.

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The twin Mediterranean countries are not that far from India. And although the Central government is sending humanitarian aid to them, should we fear encountering a similar quake here, is a question.

The National Disaster Management Authority in the country, on its website, states that “As per the current seismic zone map of the country (IS 1893: 2002), over 59 per cent of India’s land area is under threat of moderate to severe seismic hazard.”

“In fact, the entire Himalayan belt is considered prone to great earthquakes of magnitude exceeding 8.0,” they added.

In the last 50 years, four such earthquakes have occurred in that region: 1897 Shillong (M8.7); 1905 Kangra (M8.0); 1934 Bihar-Nepal (M8.3); and 1950 Assam-Tibet (M8.6).

Scientific publications have warned of the likelihood of the occurrence of very severe earthquakes in the Himalayan, Kutch, Andaman and Nicobar regions, closely followed by Terai areas, including Bahraich, Lakhimpur, Pilibhit, Ghaziabad, Roorkee, and Nainital.

In addition, there is also a considerable threat to the national capital Delhi, and Pune.