LATUR EARTHQUAKE OF SEPTEMBER 30,1993

On the morning of 30.9.1993, an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on Richter Scale rocked the districts of Latur and Osmanabad in Maharashtra. The degree of fury was such that dwellings in several villages of these two districts were totally converted to debris. A total of 7601 people lost their lives in Latur and Osmanabad districts (Source: Govt. of Maharashtra). In adjoining Karnataka, 9 people were killed and about 16,000 people injured. Number of houses destroyed in the earthquake was about 30,000.

The most striking feature of this disastrous episode was that the intensity of severe damage (Meizoseismal area) was confined to a relatively small area in Umerga and Ausa talukas of Osmanabad and Latur districts .In this region, 25 villages were reduced to rubble and 58 suffered severe damage. Houses of poorly constructed masonry were totally collapsed. Partial collapses and gaping cracks in well-built brick construction also occurred and even cracks in RCC beams and columns occurred in several affected villages.

Monumental buildings like “Kala Gumbez” of Sastur and Shiva temple of Gumbal suffered severe damages.

Mostly damages were conspicuously concentrated in the close proximity of North and South banks of Tirna River.

Parameters:

Date: 30.September 1993

Origin line: 03 hrs.55min: 47.5sec.IST

Epicenter: Latitude 18.07 N Longitude 76.62 E

Magnitude: 6.3

Focal Depth: 12 kms.

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Damage Photographs