A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF 1819,1844 AND 2001 EARTHQUAKES IN GUJARAT

The Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat in the Western part of India is seismically the most active area outside Himalayan Belt. Several severe earthquakes of which the 1819 Rann of Kachchh and 2001 Bhuj Earthquakes are the severest recorded have rocked the region. This paper is an attempt to make a comparative study of the 1819,1844 and 2001 earthquakes. The study of 1819 and 1944 earthquakes is based on secondary accounts while 2001 Bhuj earthquake is based on remote Sensing. From a comparative study of the three earthquakes many interesting conclusions can be drawn. These earthquakes have been the result of accumulation of stress caused due to the collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate, which is continuously moving northwards. The earthquakes have been felt over large part of the Indian Sub-continent. These have resulted in creation of several faults that have activated periodically. Prominent of them are the Allah Bund Fault, Manfara Fault and Budharmora Fault. These are strike slip faults that get periodically activated. In future too these faults are going to be the most vulnerable to any seismic activity with the probability of high intensity earthquakes occurring along them in future too.