What is Bhuj Earthquake and Bhuj Earthquake Date?
On 26th January 2001, a massive earthquake occurred near the town of Bhuj in Gujarat, on the border of Pakistan, which was named as Bhuj Earthquake. This town was located in the northwestern part of India near Pakistan. On that day, the entire Bhuj town was struck with India’s annual republic day celebrations. At that time, the Bhuj earthquake magnitude was about 7.7, which is 6.9 on the Richter scale. The Bhuj earthquake of 2001 destroyed the houses and properties of millions of people and killed about 25000 people. Also, a large majority of the local crops were destroyed. As a result, many people shifted their shelters to various places. This article describes the impact, reconstruction and international response to Gujarat Bhuj Earthquake explained here in detail.
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Geographical Location of Bhuj
Gujarat was located between the Eurasian Plate and the Indian plate. And the town of Bhuj was located 300 to 400 km away from the plate boundary. The 2001 earthquake has mainly occurred due to the effects of the continuing continental collision along this boundary. While Gondwana in the Jurassic was broken up, Bhuj was affected by rifting with a roughly west-east trend. During the collision of plates, the area has undergone shortening and is involved in the reactivation of the original rift faults. As a result, the new low-angle thrust faults were developed. Also, the many other buildings were formed at a series of ranges near the central Kutch.
The force of earthquakes will reverse faulting by reactivated rift faults. In 1819, the Rann of Kutch earthquake had a pattern of uplift and subsidence with reactivation. The 2001 Gujarat earthquake was mainly caused by the movement of an unknown south-dipping fault. This fault was parallel to the inferred rift structures
Effect of Gujarat Bhuj Earthquake
As per the records, the total death recorded in the Kutch region was about 12300. The Bhuj was the town of Gujarat, which was located twenty kilometers away from the epicenter and it faced huge devastation during the Gujarat earthquake. This earthquake also created considerable damage in the Bhachau and Anjar regions. Hundreds of villages around the Taluka of Anjar, Bhuj, and Bhachau became flattened.
Due to this earthquake, more than one million structures were damaged or destroyed, which includes historic buildings and tourist spots. This earthquake destroyed more than forty percent of homes, two hospitals, and eight schools around the Bhuj region. The Bhuj earthquake in 2001 destroyed historic monuments like the Swaminarayan temple, Prag Mahal and Aina Mahal. While the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) inspected more than 250 heritage buildings around the Kutch and Saurashtra region, they found that about 40% of the buildings were collapsed or in severely damaged condition. Also, only 10% of the monuments remained undamaged.
Gujarat's commercial capital, Ahmedabad initially had a 7 million population, but several hundred people were killed in the Gujarat earthquake. Also, 50 multi-story buildings collapsed. From Gujarat's commercial capital, Ahmedabad the total property damage was estimated at around $7.5 billion. Due to this earthquake, 60% of the food and water supplies of people from Kutch were destroyed. Also, it destroyed around 258,000 houses, 90% of the district's housing stock. Bhuj civil hospital was totally demolished during the Bhuj earthquake region. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society have raised a hand to support people affected by the earthquake through the Indian military. A temporary Red Cross hospital was set up around the Bhuj region to take care of people affected by the Bhuj region.
Reconstruction of the Bhuj Region
After four months, the government of Gujarat announced the Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Policy to help people affected by the earthquake. The estimated cost for rebuilding the urban and rural construction was about US$1.77 billion. Through this policy, the government took different approaches to reconstructing the city.
The main objective behind the development of policies includes repairing, building, and strengthening houses and public buildings. They also concentrated on health support, the revival of the economy, and reconstruction of the community and social infrastructure
Reconstruction of Houses
The government took initiative in the removal of rubble and to set up temporary shelters for millions of people. The housing policies also concentrated on the full reconstruction of damaged houses and the retrofitting of undamaged units. Also, the government has introduced various policies to establish a community-driven housing recovery process. The government also gave the option for the communities affected by the earthquake to partially relocate to the in-situ reconstruction. Under this policy, the government has taken about 929,682 houses for repair and 213,685 houses for reconstruction. At the end of 2003, about 94% of houses were repaired and 53% of houses were reconstructed.
Government’s City Plan
To construct a new city, the Environmental Planning Collaborative (EPC) was commissioned for support. They mainly focused on creating a wide roadway network for providing emergency access to the city. The EPC also utilized the land readjustment for developing the eight town planning schemes. This method helped them to reduce private land usage and to create adequate public land for widening the roadways. Through this method, the EPC readjusted the land and returned back the land to the original owners as final plots.
International Response to Gujarat Earthquake
While Gujarat faced massive damage due to the Bhuj earthquake. Many countries from various parts of the world raised their hands to help the affected people in different ways. The below table listed the name of countries and the relief offered by them in detail.
This article described the geographical location of Bhuj, the impact, initiatives of the government with the international response of different countries in detail.
FAQs on Bhuj Earthquake
1. When and where did the 2001 Bhuj earthquake occur?
The devastating Bhuj earthquake struck on India's 52nd Republic Day, January 26, 2001, at approximately 8:46 AM IST. The epicentre was located about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari in the Bhuj Taluka of the Kutch (Kachchh) District of Gujarat, India.
2. What was the primary geological cause of the Bhuj earthquake?
The Bhuj earthquake was an intraplate earthquake caused by the movement along a previously unknown south-dipping reverse fault. It occurred due to the immense stress built up as the Indian Plate continues to push northwards into the Eurasian Plate. This collision, which formed the Himalayas, also creates significant strain within the Indian plate itself, far from the main plate boundary, leading to such powerful earthquakes.
3. What was the magnitude of the Bhuj earthquake on different scales?
The 2001 Bhuj earthquake had a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.7, which measures the total energy released by the earthquake. On the more commonly known Richter scale, its magnitude was recorded as 6.9. The high intensity was also reflected on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale, where it reached the maximum level of X (Extreme) in the epicentral area.
4. How did the geology of the Kutch region amplify the earthquake's impact?
The geology of the Kutch region played a critical role in the severity of the earthquake's impact. The region is characterised by:
- Thick sediments: The area is filled with thick layers of sedimentary rock and soft soil, which can amplify seismic waves, a phenomenon known as liquefaction. This caused the ground to lose its strength and behave like a liquid, leading to the collapse of many buildings.
- Hidden faults: The earthquake occurred on a hidden thrust fault, which had not been identified prior to the event, meaning infrastructure was not designed to withstand such a powerful tremor from that specific source.
5. What was the scale of destruction caused by the 2001 Bhuj earthquake?
The Bhuj earthquake caused catastrophic destruction. Official figures state that it resulted in over 20,000 deaths and more than 167,000 injuries. The economic and infrastructural damage was immense:
- Nearly 400,000 homes were destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
- Critical infrastructure like hospitals, schools, roads, and communication lines were severely damaged or destroyed across the Kutch district.
- Over 8,000 villages were affected, with towns like Bhuj, Anjar, and Bhachau being almost completely flattened.
6. Why is the Bhuj earthquake not considered a Himalayan earthquake, despite being caused by the same plate collision?
While the root cause is the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, the Bhuj earthquake is classified as an intraplate earthquake, not a Himalayan (or interplate) one. The key difference is location:
- Himalayan earthquakes occur at the active plate boundary where the two plates meet.
- The Bhuj earthquake occurred far south of the Himalayas, within the Indian plate itself. The stress from the ongoing continental collision was released along a pre-existing fault line within the continental crust of the Kutch region, hundreds of kilometres from the main Himalayan fault system.
7. What were the major challenges faced during the post-earthquake rescue and relief operations?
The rescue and relief operations after the Bhuj earthquake faced enormous challenges. The timing of the event on a national holiday, Republic Day, initially slowed down the official response. Key difficulties included:
- Damaged Infrastructure: Destruction of roads, bridges, and communication towers severely hampered the movement of rescue teams and supplies into the affected areas.
- Overwhelmed Medical Facilities: The collapse of major hospitals in the region meant that there were very few places to treat the tens of thousands of injured people.
- Scale of the Disaster: The vast area affected, covering thousands of villages, made it difficult to reach everyone quickly.
- Harsh Conditions: Rescuers had to work in difficult conditions, dealing with debris, aftershocks, and cold winter weather.
8. Why is the 2001 Bhuj earthquake considered a crucial case study for disaster management in India?
The Bhuj earthquake is a landmark event in the history of disaster management in India because it exposed major vulnerabilities and catalysed significant reforms. It serves as a crucial case study for understanding:
- The importance of enforcing building codes and retrofitting structures in seismically active zones.
- The need for a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to disaster management, leading to the enactment of the Disaster Management Act in 2005 and the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
- The critical role of community preparedness and rapid response mechanisms.
- The long-term psychological and socio-economic impacts of a major natural disaster on a population.
