Massive quake can devastate huge parts of Kolkata in no time, warns IIT report

A massive earthquake can reduce various areas of the city of Kolkata into shambles in no time and the magnitude of such quake could be anywhere between 6.1 and 6.8 Richter Scale. The danger will further increase over the next half a century

The Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) has come up with a ‘Seismological Microzonation Map’ to assess the degree of damage an earthquake can cause to Kolkata and what measures can be taken to overcome the disaster if it indeed strikes. The map has been prepared under the supervision of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ananda Bazaar Patrika reported. The map has also indicated that owing to the presence of higher ground water level in the quake-prone areas, a quake could see large portions of land getting engulfed by water and causing damage worth over Rs 50,000 crore.