New Delhi, Delhi is considered to be in the Zone IV, high damage earthquake area. It means that the national capital has a structural default as it lies in the epicenter area. Keeping this in mind, a pilot project is being carried out by the Ministry of Earth Sciences to further microzone the city on a scale of 1:10,000.
This study will help assess the damage which can be caused to life or property in case of an earthquake. This will also help disaster management authorities to understand area-specific vulnerability and formulate building codes for the city.
In Delhi, the character of soil structure is not uniform and the impact of an earthquake varies. The capital presents a number of unique challenges due to its proximity to the Himalayas that have a number of fault lines.
Fault lines are a likely place for the epicenter. Besides the Himalayan fault system, there are other zones and fault lines like the Delhi-Haridwar ridge zone, Mahendragarh fault line, Rajasthan boundary fault line, Moradabad fault line and the Sohna fault line.
This mixed domain of hard and soft ground, amplifies the problem. This complexity is further aggravated by Delhi’s long history of evolution as a mega city, co-existence of historical structures with modern skyscrapers and well-laid residential buildings. And all these issues point out that there is a serious need of evaluation of this seismic hazard in the city.
