Earthquakes
EARTHQUAKES
DHORI: Cracks on a salt marsh can be seen on this aerial view of the epicentre of the recent earthquake near Dhori village some 20 km. (12 miles) from Bhuj in the western Indian state of Gujarat, Saturday Feb. 3, 2001. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)
AHMEDABAD: Residents of Ahmedabad, India, survey earthquake damage Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001. Officials predicted as many as 6,000 may have been killed in the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in western India on Friday.(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
The 2001 Gujarat earthquake occurred on January 26, 2001, India's 52nd Republic Day, at 08:46 AM local time (3:16 UTC) and lasted for over two minutes. The epicentre was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari[3] in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat, India.[4] The earthquake reached a magnitude of between 7.6 and 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum felt intensity of X (Intense) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The quake killed around 20,000 people (including 18 in South eastern Pakistan), injured another 167,000 and destroyed nearly 400,000 homes.[5]
This was an intraplate earthquake, one that occurred at a distance from an active plate boundary, so the area was not well prepared. The shock waves spread 700 km. 21 districts were affected and 600,000 people left homeless.
Tectonic setting
See also: Geology of India
Gujarat lies about 400 km from the plate boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, but the current tectonics is still governed by the effects of the continuing continental collision along this boundary. During the break-up of Gondwana in the Jurassic, this area was affected by rifting with a roughly west-east trend. During the collision with Eurasia the area has undergone shortening, involving both reactivation of the original rift faults and development of new low-angle thrust faults. The related folding has formed a series of ranges, particularly in central Kutch. The focal mechanism of most earthquakes is
DHORI: Cracks on a salt marsh can be seen on this aerial view of the epicentre of the recent earthquake near Dhori village some 20 km. (12 miles) from Bhuj in the western Indian state of Gujarat, Saturday Feb. 3, 2001. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)
AHMEDABAD: Residents of Ahmedabad, India, survey earthquake damage Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001. Officials predicted as many as 6,000 may have been killed in the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in western India on Friday.(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
The 2001 Gujarat earthquake occurred on January 26, 2001, India's 52nd Republic Day, at 08:46 AM local time (3:16 UTC) and lasted for over two minutes. The epicentre was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari[3] in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat, India.[4] The earthquake reached a magnitude of between 7.6 and 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum felt intensity of X (Intense) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The quake killed around 20,000 people (including 18 in South eastern Pakistan), injured another 167,000 and destroyed nearly 400,000 homes.[5]
This was an intraplate earthquake, one that occurred at a distance from an active plate boundary, so the area was not well prepared. The shock waves spread 700 km. 21 districts were affected and 600,000 people left homeless.
Tectonic setting
See also: Geology of India
Gujarat lies about 400 km from the plate boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, but the current tectonics is still governed by the effects of the continuing continental collision along this boundary. During the break-up of Gondwana in the Jurassic, this area was affected by rifting with a roughly west-east trend. During the collision with Eurasia the area has undergone shortening, involving both reactivation of the original rift faults and development of new low-angle thrust faults. The related folding has formed a series of ranges, particularly in central Kutch. The focal mechanism of most earthquakes is