Latur, 3-45 a.m., 1993: The earth shook violently and jolted lakhs of people out of their beds. When light came, the horror became visible: Over 10,000 dead and many thousand rendered homeless in over 50 villages in and around Latur, Maharashtra.

The 6.4-magnitude Khillari-Latur earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks that instilled a sense of fear in the lives of the poor people there. It shattered the long-held belief that the Deccan Traps region was stable and immune to earthquakes of large magnitudes.

The sole reason for the extremely-high mortality in the earthquake of September 30, 1993 was the collapse of houses and buildings burying the many thousands under them.

A typical home in any of the 52 villages in Osmanabad district, where lay the epicentre Khillari, would be made up of stones and crude masonry work. When the earthquake struck, the structures collapsed like a ' pack of cards'.

As KS Jayaraman and I, then with PTI, were approaching the quake-hit area on the morning on October 1, we saw the approach roads cracked kilometres ahead, homes razed to the ground, corpses lying around and the changed course of small water bodies. The damage was of unimaginable proportion.

Impact on Seismology

Caravans of relief vans, vehicles carrying food, clothing and water from across the country, and international aid swarmed the place, which is about 200 km from Hyderabad. As communications were snapped, the operations became truly Herculean. We could report only through a satellite phone of the security forces.

Back in Hyderabad, we spoke to seismologists at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) who were quite foxed. Such a big tremor was least expected in the area, which was formed millions of years ago as a consequence of the Deccan Volcanism.

A consequence of the Khillari-Latur earthquake was the transformation of the Zoning map of India showing the comparative risk-prone areas. The Deccan Plateau region comprising parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were studied intensely and included in the five categories of earthquake-prone zones.

Earth scientists, in collaboration with civil engineers and policy makers, also worked on quake-proof construction materials, and new codes for buildings. However, they are still to be made mandatory. Insurers have also been pushing local authorities to make them mandatory for builders so that they can be considered for cover and claims.

Exactly a year later, in 1994, a group of journalists from New Delhi visited Latur and Khillari village to see some of the reconstruction done by the HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation), which built houses for the victims.

To our surprise, many local residents told BusinessLine that they were sleeping in temporary sheds even while occupying the new homes. The fear of another earthquake still haunted the people. According to the India Meteorological Department and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), the region had experienced nearly a hundred minor tremors.

Twenty-five years have passed, but the people are still coming to terms with life and many even waiting for compensation for the damage.

Clearly, the scars of the ‘Black September’ night are hard to erase.

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