#Bhuj

##Bhujearthquake2001
#rajeshkamaljain
#26januaryrepublicday
#republicday
#platetectonic
#earthquake
#causesofearthquakes



Bhuj earthquake of 2001, massive earthquake that occurred on Jan. 26, 2001, in the Indian state of Gujarat, on the Pakistani border.

The earthquake struck near the town of Bhuj on the morning of India’s annual Republic Day (celebrating the creation of the Republic of India in 1950), and it was felt throughout much of northwestern India and parts of Pakistan. The moment magnitude of the quake was 7.7 (6.9 on the Richter scale). In addition to killing more than 20,000 people and injuring more than 150,000 others, the quake left hundreds of thousands homeless and destroyed or damaged more than a million buildings. A large majority of the local crops were ruined as well. Many people were still living in makeshift shelters a year later.
#earthquake According to the teleseismic data, the epicentral coordinates of the mainshock were 23.36 degrees north and 70.34 degrees east.

The seismic moment of the event is estimated to be about 6.2*10^28 dyne-cm.

The uplift was 2m, 15 km west of the epicentre.

The shake had reverse motion with severe shakes that lasted about 85 seconds and minor shakes that lasted several minutes.

As per the reports of the survivors, two different distinctive pulses were felt, which may be due to the separate arrivals of the P wave and S wave.


The 2001 Gujarat earthquake, also known as the Bhuj earthquake, occurred on 26 January at 08:46 am IST. The epicentre was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat, India.[4][5]

The intraplate earthquake measured 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale and occurred at 17.4 km (10.8 mi) depth. It had a maximum felt intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake killed 13,805 to 20,023 people (including 18 in southeastern Pakistan), injured another 167,000 and destroyed nearly 340,000 buildings.
platetectonic
Tectonic setting
See also: Geology of India
Gujarat lies 300–400 km from the plate boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, but the current tectonics are 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 consistent with reverse faulting on reactivated rift faults. The pattern of uplift and subsidence associated with the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake is consistent with reactivation of such a fault.

The 2001 Gujarat earthquake was caused by movement on a previously unknown south-dipping fault, trending parallel to the inferred rift structures.[10][11] No major surface ruptures were associated with the shock, classifying it as a blind thrust earthquake. Lateral spreading was widely reported and strike-slip faulting was observed at Bharodia and Manfara.

Impact
Area Deaths Injuries
Bhuj 13,572 21,456
Ahmedabad 729 827
Rajkot 385 1,447
Jamnagar 117 2,148
Surendranagar 103 2,673
Surat 46 157
Banaskantha 36 119
Patan 33 946
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial capital with a population of approximately 8.2 million (according to data in 2011), as many as 80 multi-storey buildings collapsed and 729 people were killed. Total property damage was estimated at $7.5 billion. In Kutch, the earthquake destroyed about 60% of food and water supplies and around 258,000 houses, 90% of the district's housing stock. The biggest setback was the total demolition of the Bhuj Civil hospital. The Indian military provided emergency support which was later augmented by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. A temporary Red Cross hospital remained in Bhuj to provide care while a replacement hospital was built.