1) India faces recurring natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and cyclones due to its location and geology. The 2001 Gujarat earthquake killed over 100,000 people and caused $5 billion in damages. 2) To improve disaster resilience, India must integrate lessons from past disasters, build expertise through education, and make policy decisions to shift from reactive responses to proactive risk reduction. 3) A 3-step process is proposed: 1) document knowledge gained from experiences, 2) develop technical capacity through education, and 3) implement science-based policies to minimize future impacts through preparedness and resilient infrastructure.

1. TOWARDS DISASTER RESILIENCE IN INDIA
A Paradigm Shift That Will Improve the Quality of Life in India
Part 1: Earthquakes

2. GLOBAL NATURAL HAZARDS THAT
CAN CAUSE DISASTERS
• FLOODS
• SEVERE
WINDSTORMS
• EARTHQUAKES
• TSUNAMIS
• DROUGHTS
• VOLCANIC
ERUPTIONS
• LANDSLIDES
• WILDFIRES

3. INDIA IS PRONE TO DISASTERS
FROM NATURAL HAZARDS
• FLOODS
(especially during
monsoon season)
• EARTHQUAKES
(from sources
inside and outside
the country)
• CYCLONES

5. INDIA IS BIG, DIVERSE, and
CAPABLE
• It is the seventh largest country,
• The second most populous
country with human resources of
over 1.2 billion people having
cultural and religious diversity,
• The most populous democracy, - - -

6. INDIA IS BIG, DIVERSE , and
CAPABLE (continued)
• With many well- educated and well-
trained people,
• With high-tech and low-tech
capabilities,
• With a large Army

7. INDIA IS BIG, DIVERSE , and CAPABLE,
and VULNERABLE (continued)
• With many living in poverty,
• With many living in non-
earthquake-resistant housing,
• With cities and towns that are
dependent upon non- earthquake-
resistant infrastructure and critical
facilities.

8. INDIA FACES MULTIPLE
DISASTER THREATS
• India faces potential disasters each
year from floods, earthquakes, and
cyclones, some of which have
triggered notable disasters in the
past, and very recently, - - -
• That will happen again, unless a
paradigm shift occurs.

9. INDIA’s NEIGHBORS ARE
ALSO DISASTER PRONE
• India shares land borders with
Pakistan to the west; China,
Nepal, and Bhutan to the
northeast, and Burma and
Bangladesh to the east;
• All have experienced disasters

10. CONTINUATION OF THE STATUS
QUO WHEN A COUNTRY IS
DISASTER PRONE - - -
Will result in new and more complex
HEALTH PROBLEMS
WILL result in unnecessary
DEATHS AND INJURIES
WILL result in longer and more costly
RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION

11. WHAT DO WE KNOW?
• Disaster resilience has become an
urgent global goal in the 21st
century as many Nations are
experiencing disasters after a
natural hazard strikes, and learning
that their communities, institutions,
and people do NOT yet have the
capacity to be disaster resilient.

12. WHAT DO WE KNOW?
• Disaster resilience does not just
happen; it is the result of decision-
making for a national paradigm shift
from the status quo to an improved
“coping capacity” that enables the
country to rebound quickly after a
disaster.

13. PART 1:
Earthquakes
1905,1934,1950, 1990,
1993, 2001, 2004*, 2011

14. EARTHQUAKES CENTERED
INSIDE INDIA
Ongoing collision of the indo-
Australian and the Eurasian tectonic
plates has created the Himalayan
Mountains and generated many
small and a few great magnitude
earthquakes

15. COLLISION OF THE INDO-AUSTRALIA AND
EURASIAN PLATES CAUSES EARTHQUAKES

16. INDIA HAS PEOPLE AND COMMUN-
ITIES AT FUTURE RISK AD INFINITUM
• The inter-plate collision is NOT
going to stop, - - -
• So, many generations of India’s
1.2 BILLION PEOPLE are at risk ad
infinitum from earthquakes
centered inside India.

17. SEISMICITY MAP

18. GUJARET, INDIA
EARTHQUAKE
JANUARY 26, 2001

19. TIMING OF THE
EARTHQUAKE
• It happened at 8:46 am on a
Saturday morning that was also
a national holiday.

20. GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE

21. THE CAUSE

22. A NOTABLE HISTORIC
EARTHQUAKE DISASTER
• GUJARAT – Saturday, January 26, 2001,
(Republic Day holiday); M7.7; 8:46 am near
the towns of Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar, Rapar;
Buildings/houses damaged in Ahmedabad
and partially to totally destroyed in Bhuj,
Bhachau, Anjar, Rapar, leaving 50.000 -
100,000 dead and 600,000 homeless.

23. GUJARAT: ESTIMATED
ECONONIC LOSS
• Nearly $5 billion

24. INDIA’s FIVE SEISMIC ZONES:
GUJARAT IS IN ZONE 3

25. ZONES
• ZONES 1 and 2: (Blue to Yellow-Brown)
Very low to Low seismic activiity
• ZONE 3: (Orange) Moderate seismic
activity
• ZONE 4 : (Light Red) High seismic
activity
• ZONE 5 (Dark Red): Very high seismic
activity

26. COLLAPSED HOUSES AND
BUILDINGS
• Within a few minutes, poorly
constructed homes and buildings in the
towns of Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar, and
Rapar, and the city of Ahmedabad were
damaged or destroyed, leaving 50,000
to 100,000 dead and 600,000 survivors
needing medical care and relief

27. HOMELESS AND NEEDY

28. HOMELESS AND NEEDY

29. AHMEDABAD

30. AHMEDABAD

31. AHMEDABAD

32. AHMEDABAD

33. NO SURVIVORS

34. AHMEDABAD

35. NO SURVIVORS

36. TEMPORARY “SHELTER”

37. RESPONSIVE TO THE NEEDS
• The Indian government, with
assistance from International
NGO’s, the people, and others
responded immediately and
effectively to the urgent needs.

38. EXAMPLE OF EMERGENCY
ASSISTANCE
• A relief effort began the next day in
the most-affected towns: Anjar,
Bhachau, Rapar and Bhuj.
• Food and relief kits containing life
essentials and materials approp-
riate for the Jan-Feb weather were
provided quickly to families.

39. EXAMPLE OF EMERGENCY
ASSISTANCE (continued)
• Medical teams, each consisting
of a doctor and paramedic,
were rapidly mobilized to the
field to provide medical
assistance in the areas hit the
hardest..

40. EXAMPLE OF EMERGENCY
ASSISTANCE (continued)
• Beginning in February, the
Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
implemented an 18- to 24-month
reconstruction program to provide
earthquake-resistant housing in
Bhachau, Anjar, Rapar and Bhuj.

41. A PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS
EARTHQUAKE DISASTER
RESILIENCE
A THREE STEP PROCESS

42. TOWARDS EARTHQUAKE
DISASTER RESILIENCE IN INDIA
• Step 1: Integrate Past Experiences Into
Books of Knowledge
• Step 2: From Books of Knowledge to
Innovative Educational Surges to Build
Professional and Technical Capacity
• Step 3: From Professional and Technical
Capacity to Disaster Resilience

43. Step 1: Integrate Past
Experiences Into Books of
Knowledge
NOTE: A book of Knowkedge is
everything we know or think we know
about India’s earthquakes

45. BOOKS OF KNOWLEDGE
Are “TOOLS” to facilitate India’s
continuing commitment to
minimize the likely impacts of the
inevitable future earthquake,
thereby preventing another
disaster

46. EARTHQUAKES CENTERED IN OTHER
COUNTRIES HAVE ALSO IMPACTED INDIA
The October 8, 2005 Kashmir,
Pakistan earthquake disaster that
caused 1,200 deaths in India is
one example.

47. EARTHQUAKES CENTERED IN OTHER
COUNTRIES HAVE ALSO IMPACTED INDIA
The December 26, 2004 Banda
Ache, Indonesia
earthquake/tsunami that killed
15,000 in India is another
example

48. TSUNAMI WAVES KILLED
15,000 IN INDIA

49. FIVE UNCONTROLLABLE
FACTORS
• The severity of a disaster is
exacerbated by five uncontrollable
factors: 1) the time of day, 2) the day of
the week, 3) the time of the year, 4) the
magnitude and shallow depth of the
quake, and 5) the poor soils and
mountainous terrain of the region.

50. TWO CONTROLLABLE
FACTORS
• The severity of a disaster is
exacerbated by two other factors that
tend to happen gradually over time:
• 1) the poor quality of construction of
buildings and infrastructure, and
• 2) the loss of capacity to anticipate and
prepare for kinds of socioeconomic
losses that occur in a disaster.

51. Step 2: From Books of
Knowledge to Innovative
Educational Surges to Build
Professional and Technical
Capacity in India to Minimize
Likely Impacts in the Next
Earthquake Disaster

52. NOTE: Step 2 is a task for a
Nation’s “Academies of Science,
Engineering and Medicine,” its
educational institutions at all
levels, and its electronic and
print media that provide public
information

53. INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO
HORIZONTAL GROUND SHAKING
EARTHQUAKES
SOIL AMPLIFICATION
PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT
(SURFACE FAULTING & GROUND
FAILURE)
IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION
AND PLAN
TSUNAMI WAVE RUNUP
LACK OF DETAILING AND
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
INATTENTION TO NON-
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
CAUSES
OF RISK
CASE HISTORIES

54. GOAL: MINIMIZE THE “DOMINOE
EFECTS” OF THE NEXT DISASTER

55. Step 3: From Professional and
Technical Capacity to Science-
based Decision-making for a
Paradigm Shift from the status
quo to Disaster Resilience in
India

56. NOTE: Step 3 is a task for a
Nation’s “decision-makers,”
(i.e., its political leaders,
stakeholders, and leading
professionals)
who have a basis for deciding
on the nature and scope of a
national paradigm shift

57. LIVING WITH NATURAL HAZARDS
INCREASED
DEMANDS ON
COMMUNITY
A DISASTER:
INSUFFICIENT
CAPABILITIES OF
COMMUNITY

58. LIVING WITH NATURAL HAZARDS
DEMANDS ON
COMMUNITY
MINIMIZED IMPACTS OF THE
NEXT EARTHQUAKE:
CAPABILITIES OF
COMMUNITY

59. INDIA’S
COMMUNITIESDATA BASES
AND INFORMATION
HAZARDS:
GROUND SHAKING
GROUND FAILURE
SURFACE FAULTING
TECTONIC DEFORMATION
TSUNAMI RUN UP
AFTERSHOCKS
•NATURAL HAZARDS
MAPS
•INVENTORY
•VULNERABILITY
•LOCATION
RISK ASSESSMENT
RISK
ACCEPTABLE RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
POLICIES TO
MINIMIZE IMPACTS
•PREPAREDNESS
•PROTECTION/PREVENTION
•EARLY WARNING
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
•RECOVERY/RECONSTRUCT.
POLICY OPTIONS