Increment years, a number of earthquakes have caused thousands of deaths and huge economic losses in India. Earthquakes of comparable size in USA typically cause less than 100 deaths, largely due to systematic effort at constructing safe buildings. Every damaging earthquake in India invites a great deal of media attention. Government agencies announce plans to reduce such disasters in future, experts are interviewed by newspapers and tV channels, conferences and workshops are held all over the country, and the public feels reassured that the problem of earthquake safety is being addressed, till the next large earthquake, when people realize that not much really got done since the last such event. Does it mean that this is a problem that India cannot solve? the answer is: we can solve this problem but need the will to do so.

The 2001 Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat caused more than 13,000 deaths, most of these casualties were in Kutch and Saurashtra regions. However, the earthquake also killed more than 800 deaths in Ahmedabad, located about 220 km from the epicenter. Interestingly, none of the very old buildings in Ahmedabad collapsed during the earthquake. Instead, it was the collapse of 130 multistorey buildings constructed in recent years in the formal sector (involving developers, architects, and engineers) in Ahmedabad that caused these deaths. this is a very clear illustration of the earthquake problem of India: unsafe constructions not only by the public and the illiterate masons but even by many professional architects and engineers. this is at variance with the huge developmental strides India is making otherwise.