Is your home earthquake-resistant? Only 14% say yes; survey finds 87% of buildings lack safety audit

Hyderabad: Is the house or building you currently reside in earthquake-resistant? Only 14 per cent (15,121 persons) of respondents in a nationwide survey said yes.

While 40 per cent of respondents said no to the same question in the survey conducted by LocalCircles, it corresponds with the results of another question of the survey—When was the last time your municipal corporation did a building safety audit of your house or residential building?

A concerning 87 per cent of respondents said no audit has been done on their house/building to check how structurally safe it is, which determines its capacity to maintain integrity during natural disasters such as earthquakes.

Are we prepared for an earthquake of high intensity?

How Delhi earthquake raised the issue of the safety of homes

Residents of Delhi NCR and several parts of northern India were shaken by an earthquake of 4.0 magnitude on Monday, at approximately 5:36 am.

Woken by strong jolts, many anxious residents of high-rise buildings in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad rushed out to the open. The earthquake’s epicentre was in Delhi, at a shallow depth of only 5 km, which is likely to have intensified the tremors felt across the region. Delhi falls under Zone IV of India’s seismic map, indicating a history of moderate earthquakes. Later, an earthquake of 4.0 magnitude was also reported from Bihar at 8.02 am.

While no casualties and property damage were reported, Monday’s quake–and a series of previous minor quakes that occurred in 2024 in the Delhi-NCR region–showed public unpreparedness to the natural phenomenon that can have devastating consequences.

Only 2% had a safety audit done on their homes, shows LocalCircles survey

One of the first things a person or a family considers while buying or renting a house is to ask the question, how safe is the building? According to the LocalCircles survey, only 14 per cent answered yes to the question “Is the house or building that you currently reside in earthquake-resistant?”

Of the remaining respondents, 40 per cent indicated “No, it’s not”; 17 per cent indicated that while “the builder claims, we are not sure”; and 29 per cent stated they “can’t say”.

Similarly, when asked about the latest safety audit on the building, only 2 per cent indicated the building safety audit was done ‘several years back and it was a one-time thing’; while 4 per cent of respondents were not sure about the issue.

Quite shockingly, out of 15,392 respondents to this question, 87 per cent indicated that ‘they have never done it’; 7 per cent, however, said ‘they did it in the last 3 years, but it was just a formality.’

The survey results indicated that though building maintenance may be part of normal safety protocol, civic bodies rarely strive to ensure it. According to some citizens, this is also an area of corruption where builders at times tend to collude with municipal corporations and as a result, the audit step or parts of the process are compromised.

How unchecked development can increase earthquake risk

In a report, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), set up by the Union government to prepare and guide preparedness and relief measures in times of natural disasters, states that India’s increasing population and extensive unscientific constructions mushrooming all over, including multi-storied luxury apartments, huge factory buildings, gigantic malls, supermarkets as well as warehouses and masonry buildings keep India at high risk.

The increase in earthquake risk is due to a spurt in developmental activities driven by urbanisation, economic development and the globalisation of India’s economy. The increase in the use of high-technology equipment and tools in manufacturing and service industries has also made them susceptible to disruption due to relatively moderate ground shaking.

As a result, loss of human life is not the only determinant of earthquake risk anymore. Severe economic losses leading to the collapse of the local or regional economy after an earthquake may have long-term adverse consequences for the entire country. This effect would be further magnified if an earthquake affects a mega-city, such as Delhi or Mumbai, warns NDMA.

Advisory for earthquake-prone areas

- Build earthquake-resistant buildings and infrastructure.

- Every earthquake-prone region must build structures using materials available or produced locally and not build tall buildings.

- It is also important to make the public, particularly children, aware of dos and don’ts. People also must be taught basic first aid and other healthcare procedures such as CPR to be able to save lives in case there is an emergency.

Are you aware of the ‘Drop-Cover-Hold’ procedure for earthquake safety?

Most people seem to be unaware of the basic protocol of ‘Drop-Cover-Hold On’ to protect themselves from any falling objects or debris.

Here is an illustration of the method

As per the survey, only 13 per cent of urban Indians are fully aware of the dos and don’ts when inside their house or building during an earthquake.

When the survey asked, “Are you aware of the dos and don’ts that must be followed when you are in your house or residential building during an earthquake?” out of 13,831 responses received, 25 per cent indicated that they are ‘not aware’; 60 per cent stated that they are ‘only somewhat aware’; and only 13 per cent claimed they are ‘fully aware’.

Over 59% of land area is under threat

The survey showed that the lack of preparedness in an earthquake zone can result in a ticking time bomb. Organisations such as the NDMA should do more as the local building safety inspectors at municipal corporations are failing to even get the basic safety checks done.

During the last two decades, the country has experienced 10 major earthquakes that have resulted in over 20,000 deaths.

As per the current seismic zone map of the country (IS 1893: 2002), over 59 per cent of India’s land area is under threat of moderate to severe seismic hazard, which means it is prone to shaking of MSK Intensity VII and above (BMTPC, 2006).

In fact, the entire Himalayan belt is considered prone to great earthquakes of magnitude exceeding 8.0. Scientific publications have warned of the likelihood of the occurrence of very severe earthquakes in the Himalayan region, which could adversely affect the lives of several million people in India.

Scope of survey

The LocalCircles survey received over 43,000 responses from citizens located in 178 districts of India. As many as 64 per cent of respondents were men while 36 per cent of respondents were women. As many as 54 per cent of respondents were from Tier 1, 36 per cent were from Tier 2 and 10 per cent of respondents were from Tier 3 and 4 districts.