Seismic Shocks and Urban Risks: Learning from Regional Earthquakes to Build a Safer, Resilient Delhi

This book explores Delhi's seismic vulnerabilities by analysing recent regional earthquakes, particularly the 7.7-magnitude Myanmar-Thailand earthquake of March 28, 2025, which highlighted the dangers of tectonic activity, weak infrastructure, and poor governance. Located in high-risk Seismic Zone IV near the Himalayan fault system, Delhi faces severe risks due to its dense population, unregulated construction, aging buildings, soft soil zones, and lax enforcement of seismic codes. Drawing lessons from regional cases like Myanmar’s devastating losses, Bangkok’s structural failures, Nepal’s challenges, and Japan’s resilience, the book underscores the value of regional learning to enhance local safety. It proposes actionable strategies for Delhi, including stricter building code enforcement, retrofitting, early warning systems, public awareness, and cross-border cooperation. Advocating a paradigm shift in urban planning and disaster management, the book emphasizes bridging policy-practice gaps to build a resilient Delhi, framing resilience as a technical, policy, and moral imperative to safeguard millions of lives in the face of inevitable seismic threats.