The tremors of the earth had been recorded on a Monday morning in the capital of Delhi. Not only in the capital, the earthquake shook many parts of North India. The people came out from their homes and these things made panic amongst the people. It was of magnitude 4.0 on the Richter scale and measured down five kilometers inside the ground in the area of Dhaula Kuan in Delhi. Since the epicenter of the earthquake was in Delhi itself and not very deep inside the ground, due to this the tremors of the earthquake were felt strongly and many people said that they felt as if a train was running inside the ground.
Delhi is very sensitive to earthquakes
Delhi lies in seismic zone-4 and ranges highly in the least possibility of shaking an area where there are reports of earthquakes. As per the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, zones in which strong earthquakes are probable, heading on the 5-6 scale are usually recorded. At the same time, some earth tremors are predicted with a level even as high as 7-8 on the scale. Documents record the occurrence of at least five earthquakes in all the neighborhoods of Delhi from 1720, with a perceived intensity of 5.5. In the earlier year of 2020 as well, earthquake tremors were registered from Delhi. However, its intensity was only 3.
What is the reason that earthquakes are very prone to Delhi?
The outer crust of the earth has large and hard slabs of rocks, which are tectonic plates. About seven large and small tectonic plates are there; these plates move very slowly, which results in earthquakes. In North India, where the Himalayas are also placed, the Indian tectonic plate keeps colliding with the Eurasian plate, the vibrations of which cause earthquakes. The collision of these tectonic plates generates a large amount of energy, which causes earthquakes.
Do earthquakes make Delhi susceptible?
And as if that wasn’t enough, NDMA(National Disaster Management Authority) has even proved, apart from being in seismic zone IV, that it has very few earthquake resistance buildings, very high population density, and unplanned development making Delhi herein vulnerable to earthquakes even more. Such an earth tremor in Delhi, one would think, would be a disaster.
