Page 11 - Jabalpur_EQ

Chapter 1 Introduction

A moderate earthquake (M,=6.0) struck Central India on the morning hours of
May 22,1997. The epicenter of the earthquake was located about 12 km SE to the
city of Jabalpur. The earthquake caused considerable damage and loss of life. The
maximum intensity observed in the epicentral area due to this earthquake was
VIII on MMI scale. Jabalpur city and several villages located within a radius of
about 15 km around the epicenter (Fig. 1.1) suffered heavy damage. The epicenter
of this earthuake lies in the zone III of the seismic zoning map of India as shown
in Fig. 1.2 (BIS 1984). The maximum damage was observed in Kosamghat village
which was totally razed to the ground due to intense shaking and poor construc-
tion practices. Water supply to some localities in the city of Jabalpur was dis-
rupted due to damage of underground pipe-lines and a water tank. Telephone
lines and power supply was also affected due to this earthquake. The duration of
the shaking in the epicentral area was about 15-30 seconds. The earthquake was
felt in the entire Madhya Pradesh and adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh, and
Maharastra. Under very favourable condition the earthquake was felt in multi-
story buildings as far as in Delhi and Patna.

The seismicity of the Indian subcontinent is characterized by major interplate
seismicity along the Himalayan plate boundary and small to moderate size intra-
plate seismicity in the Peninsular India. The Indian Peninsula has been geolog-
ically considered as one of the oldest land masses of the earth crust. It is supposed
to be a Precambrian shield which has been subjected to tectonic and orogenic
activities in its subsequent geological history. The recent earthquakes (Koyna
1967, Latur 1993 and Jabalpur 1997) of the Peninsular India brings out certain
aspects contrary to the widespread opinion that it is a stable land mass devoid of
significant earthquake activity. The observed pattern of seismicity of the Penin-
sular India depicts that the Indian shield has been subjected to blocks tectonics.

Jabalpur Earthquake of May 22, 1997 1