India is a country of Disasters. We are looking into Disaster Management as a basic problem of India. Our own work in the field of Earthquakes is also discussed.

1. Natural Hazards and Disaster
Management
H.S.VIRK
#360 Sector 71,SAS Nagar-160071

2. DISASTER: Need for a Definition
• Webster's Dictionary defines a disaster as
'a grave occurrence having ruinous
results'. WHO defines disaster as 'any
occurrence
that
causes
damage,
economic destruction, loss of human life
and deterioration in health and health
services on a scale sufficient to warrant an
extraordinary response from outside the
affected community'.

3. Indian Disasters Report 2000
• Disasters are either natural, such as floods, droughts,
cyclones and earthquakes, or man-made such as riots,
conflicts, refugee situations and others like fire,
epidemics, industrial accidents, and environmental
fallouts. In 1996, 40 million people were affected by
disasters. During 1990-95, over 30 billion US$ was spent
on humanitarian assistance. On the average, 3 billion
US$ is spent on disaster mitigation every year while the
average annual global military spending is around 780
billion US dollars.
In South Asia, where poverty,
deprivation and death due to disasters are a common
feature of life, India remains the worst affected country.

4. Natural Hazards, Disasters and
Vulnerability
• Natural hazards become disasters when they
impact on the vulnerabilities of an area/region
and its people. For example, cigarette smoking
or drug-addiction is a health hazard, which can
become a disaster if the vulnerable section of
population is exposed to it freely.
The
vulnerability of a region is a complex
phenomenon; it is defined as the influence on it
by heterogeneity of social, political and
economic factors.
Natural or man-made
hazards impact differently in different parts of
the world depending upon vulnerability.

5. What is Vulnerability?
• The 1993, Latur earthquake of 6.2 M left
over 10,000 dead and destroyed 200, 000
households.
However,
much
more
powerful (7.5 M) Los Angeles earthquake
of 1971 killed only 55 persons. In India,
with a fast growing population, the disaster
mitigation and management must take into
account the assessment of risk and
vulnerability
of
the
area
under
consideration.

6. India: A Country Profile on
Disasters
• During the decade 1988-97, disasters in
India affected over 24 million people and
killed 5116 each year, on the average.
The economic loss amounted to 1884
million US $ per year.
• In India, 11.2 percent area is flood-prone,
28 percent of total cultivable area is
drought-prone and it is estimated that 57
percent of India is earthquake-prone.

7. India: A Country of Disasters
• India suffers from communal and caste
riots. The number of internally displaced
people caused by developmental projects
is probably 30 million today. The road
transport system in India is about to crack.
The number of 4-wheeled vehicles is
increasing at a tremendous rate and it has
been forecast that 300 million vehicles will
be on the roads by AD 2050. The country,
on the face of it, presents a dismal picture,
so far as disaster management is
concerned.

8. Major Disasters in India(1990-2k)
• United Nations declared 1990-2000 as the
International Decade for Natural Disaster
Reduction (IDNDR). During this decade, India
faced many major disasters, e.g., cyclones in
Andhra Pradesh (1990 & 96) and Gujarat
(1998), earthquakes in Uttarkashi (1991), Latur
(1993), Jabalpur (1997) and Bhuj (2001),
landslide in Uttar Pradesh (1998), in addition to
floods (1993-1999). On an average 3000 lives
have been lost besides destruction of public
property worth 10,000 million rupees.

9. Indian Response to Disasters
• Keeping in view, the objectives of IDNDR and
Yokohoma Declaration, Indian Government has
planned for disaster preparedness, mitigation
and management at the national, state and
district level by creating infrastructure, namely
National Centre for Disaster Management
(NCDM), Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) at state
level and National Fund for calamity Relief
(NFCR) at national level.
Forecasting and
warning systems to deal with floods, cyclones,
droughts and earthquakes are being upgraded.

10. Disaster Mitigation & Management:
What is Our Contribution?
• Our Group in GND University was
involved in Earthquake Prediction studies
in Punjab and HP (Kangra & Chamba
valleys). We failed to predict Earthquakes
but our research has set some
benchmarks in this field.
• Radiation survey of Punjab was carried
out under DAE Project to determine effect
of Environmental Natural Radiation on the
health of its people.

11. What Indian Mythology Tells?
• Earth is supported on the horns of a
mighty Bull. Earthquakes are caused due
to shifting of Earth from one horn to the
other by the Bull.
• Guru Nanak Dev in Japuji rejected this
Myth in a logical manner: If our Earth is
supported by one Bull then what supports
the millions of other planets like our Earth?

12. Causes of Earthquakes
• Earthquakes (EQs) are caused by sudden
releases of strain energy accumulated during
long intervals due to relative motion of Tectonic
plates of earth; 6 major and 6 minor. EQs are of
two types: Tectonic and Volcanic. Tectonic EQs
are of three types: Interplate, Intraplate and
SCR(Stable Continental Region). Magnitude of
EQs is measured on Richter scale. EQ of 6.3M
is equivalent to the Atomic Bomb thrown on
Hiroshima in its destructive power.

13. Concept of Tectonic Plates

14. Illustration of Seismic Waves

15. Hypocenter, Epicenter, Seismic
Wave and Fault

17. Global Frequency of Earthquakes
Magnitude
Description
No. of Earthquakes/Year
8.5 and up
Great
0.3
8-8.4
Great
1
7.5-7.9
Major
3
7-7.4
Major
15
6.6-6.9
Destructive
56
6-6.5
Destructive
210
5-5.9
Damaging
800
4-4.9
Minor
6200
3-3.9
Minor
49000
2-2.9
Minor
300000
0-1.9
Minor
700000

18. Population Growth and Fatalities
due to Earthquake Hazards

19. San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

20. The Great Kanto Earthquake(1923)

21. LIST OF SOME SIGNIFICANT EARTHQUAKES IN INDIA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
DATE
EPICENTRE
LOCATION
Lat( Deg N )
Long( Deg E )
1819 JUN 16
23.6
68.6
1869 JAN 10
25
93
1885 MAY 30
34.1
74.6
1897 JUN 12
26
91
1905 APR 04
32.3
1918 JUL 08
MAGNITUDE
KUTCH,GUJARAT
8.0
NEAR CACHAR, ASSAM
7.5
SOPOR, J&K
7.0
SHILLONGPLATEAU
8.7
76.3
KANGRA, H.P
8.0
24.5
91.0
SRIMANGAL, ASSAM
7.6
1930 JUL 02
25.8
90.2
DHUBRI, ASSAM
7.1
1934JAN 15
26.6
86.8
BIHAR-NEPALBORDER
8.3
1941 JUN 26
12.4
92.5
ANDAMAN ISLANDS
8.1
1943 OCT 23
26.8
94.0
ASSAM
7.2
1950 AUG 15
28.5
96.7
ARUNACHAL PRADESH-CHINA BORDER
8.5
1956 JUL 21
23.3
70.0
ANJAR, GUJARAT
7.0
1967 DEC 10
17.37
73.75
KOYNA, MAHARASHTRA
6.5
1975 JAN 19
32.38
78.49
KINNAUR, HP
6.2
1988 AUG 06
25.13
95.15
MANIPUR-MYANMAR BORDER
6.6
1988 AUG 21
26.72
86.63
BIHAR-NEPAL BORDER
6.4
1991 OCT 20
30.75
78.86
UTTARKASHI, UP HILLS
6.6
1993 SEP 30
18.07
76.62
LATUR-OSMANABAD, MAHARASHTRA
6.3
1997 MAY 22
23.08
80.06
JABALPUR,MP
6.0
1999 MAR 29
30.41
79.42
CHAMOLI DIST, UP
6.8
2001 JAN 26
23.40
70.28
BHUJ , GUJARAT
6.9

28. What is Earthquake Prediction?
• The ultimate aim of EQ prediction is to
establish reliability to issue timely warning
so as to save life and property. A valid
prediction should be based on four
essential elements:
• Time window in which the Event will occur.
• Location of the Event with all coordinates.
• Magnitude range, and
• Statistical probability of the Event.

29. Chamba (1995)
Uttarkashi (1991)
Chamoli
(1999)

30. Soil-Gas Emanometry
Radon Emanometer used for radon
sampling
Soil-gas probe used for radon sampling

31. Groundwater Emanometry
Groundwater radon sampling methodolgy

32. Radon Survey in Groundwater at Palampur
(Virk, Randhawa & Ramola)

33. 12
Dalhousie
Chamba
Eq. (M=5.1)
8
Soil-Gas
6
Groundwat er
Χ +2 σ=4.73
4
Χ+2 σ=4.52
Χ
2
Χ
Time Window (March 1995)
31
28
25
22
19
16
13
7
4
0
10
Χ −2 σ
MAR'95
Radon Conc. (Bq/L)
10
(Virk et al., 1995)

34. Palampur
80
Χ+2σ =69.66
70
Χ = 56.69
Χ+2σ = 46.63
40
30
Χ= 24.31
20
Groundwater
Soil-gas
10
31
29
27
25
23
21
19
17
15
13
11
9
7
5
3
0
Mar. 99
Radon Conc. (Bq/L)
60
50
Chamoli Eq
M=6.8
M=3.2
Ep = 87 km
Time window (March 1999)
(Virk et al. 2001)

35. 5.6
Palampur
Chamoli Eq
5.5
5.3
5.2
5.1
5
4.9
4.8
4.7
Mar. 99
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Helium Conc. (ppm)
5.4
Time window (March 99)
(Virk et al. 2001)

36. Variation of Radon Conc. with Microseismicity
in the region
90
30
Seismic Events/year
Avg. Rn conc./year
80
83
25
70
No. of Events/Year
60
70
80
20
50
15
40
40
30
20
10
Avg. Radon Conc./Year
79
27
19
5
20
10
0
0
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Time Window
1997
1998
1999
(Walia et al. 2003)

37. Nuclear Explosion of 11 May, 1998
at Pokhran recorded at Amritsar

38. Proposed Earthquake Monitoring
Network for India

39. Destruction by Bhuj Earthquake

40. Future Scenario of Earthquakes

51. Hongkong (Densely Populated

53. Disaster Management Structure

54. Thank You !!!