Earthquakes: India
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Delhi: located in ‘high-risk’ seismic zone IV
Disaster authority for stricter quake norms
Ambika Pandit TNN
The Times of India 2013/08/06
Delhi is located in the ‘high-risk’ seismic zone IV. The Vulnerability Atlas of India (1997) says for shaking intensity eight, 6.5% houses in Delhi have high damage risk and 85.5% houses have moderate damage risk. “Most buildings may not meet codal requirements on seismic resistance. Disaster prevention involves engineering intervention in buildings and structures to make them strong enough to withstand the impact of natural hazard,” said DDMA divisional commissioner Dharampal.
DDMA has observed that ill-designed high-risk areas and highrises exist in Delhi without specific consideration of earthquake resistance. “Connaught Place, numerous district centres and sprouting highrise group housing schemes are high risk areas due to the vertical development and plan configurations,” DDMA concedes. The Walled City, trans-Yamuna area, and scattered pockets of unplanned settlements also figure as high-risk zones due to their substandard structures and high density.