Learn how this affects building codes, infrastructure, and preparedness for the potential great Himalayan earthquake. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) unveiled a radically updated seismic zonation map, classifying the entire Himalayan arc as Zone VI.
India New quake Map Himalayan Seismic Gap Building Code
The government of India has delivered a seismic wake-up call to the nation’s engineering, planning, and disaster management sectors by officially unveiling a radically updated National Seismic Zonation Map. This critical revision, part of the new Earthquake Design Code introduced by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), brings a dramatic shift in how India assesses and prepares for future major tremors. For the first time, the map places the entire Himalayan arc—from Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh—into a newly defined, highest-risk category: Zone VI.
This move is far more than an administrative change; it is a long-overdue alignment of hazard assessment with stark geological reality. Under the previous classification system, large segments of the Himalayan belt were misleadingly split between lower risk categories (Zones IV and V), despite sharing uniform and immense tectonic stress. The revised map now ensures that the entire region is classified consistently, acknowledging the profound and persistent danger posed by the ongoing collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. This collision, which drives the Indian Plate northward at approximately 5 centimetres per year, is the fundamental engine building up enormous, stored-up strain beneath the world’s youngest and most active mountain range.
