Quantifying earthquake hazard and enhancing resilience in India

The population of India lives under the threat of large and destructive earthquakes. Recent studies by this project team have revealed that the spatial nature of this threat varies significantly more across India than was previously known: the earthquake-prone Himalayan mountain belt contains significant spatial variations in fault geometries, and ‘intraplate’ central India contains numerous previously-unrecognised active faults. These spatial variations in faulting are critical because they control the nature of the earthquake hazard faced by local populations. Understanding these variations is therefore the most effective way to build resilience to this hazard, which will vary between regions.