Himanshu Mittal

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Scientist-E at Ministry of Earth Sciences

Several natural hazards, including earthquakes, may trigger disasters and the presence of disaster drivers further lead to the massive loss of life and property, every year around the world. The earthquakes are unavoidable, as exact earthquake prediction in terms of date, and time is difficult. However, with the advancement in technology, earthquak...

The main goal of present study is to test the functionality of an earthquake early warning (EEW) system (a life-saving tool), in India using synthesized data and recorded earthquake data from Taiwan. In recent time, India set up an EEW system in the central seismic gap along the Himalayan Belt, consisting of about 100 low-cost P-Alert instruments....

On 6 February 2018, an Mw 6.4 earthquake struck near the city of Hualien, in eastern Taiwan with a focal depth of 10.4 km. The earthquake caused strong shaking and severe damage to many buildings in Hualien. The maximum intensity during this earthquake reached VII (>0.4g) in the epicentral region, which is extreme in Taiwan and capable of causing d...

This study aims to estimate attenuation characteristics of the central Himalayan region of India concerning various strong-motion parameters such as Kappa value (κ) and site effects. We have tried to elaborate on the regional structural heterogeneities and their implications towards the seismic hazard assessment of the study region. A total of 81 e...

The risk of earthquakes and their effects on both nature and infrastructure in seismically active regions of India require adaptable and scalable earthquake early warning (EEW) systems. Developing a robust EEW system is crucial to mitigate earthquake risks in the region, but it is a challenging task. Various institutes have attempted to develop EEW...

Morocco, being a country with a diverse soil cover, experiences variations in earthquake ground motion due to the presence of thick sediments in some areas. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of available estimates regarding site effects in Morocco using the standard spectral ratio technique. The SSR method was chosen because it allows the es...

In this study, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of earthquake recurrence parameters along the Himalayan seismic belt (HSB), defined by coordinates 25°-35° N and 72°-98° E. Our analysis covered the estimation of critical earthquake hazard parameters, including Gutenberg-Richter (GR) parameters ‘b’ and ‘a’ values, mean seismic activity rate (λ...

In this study, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of earthquake recurrence parameters along the Himalayan seismic belt (HSB), defined by coordinates 25°-35° N and 72°-98° E. Our analysis covered the estimation of critical earthquake hazard parameters, including Gutenberg-Richter (GR) parameters ‘b’ and ‘a’ values, mean seismic activity rate (λ...

The Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand areas are known for their high seismic activity in India. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the areas are situated in seismic zones IV and V, and have the potential to produce small to large earthquakes. These areas have also seen significant seismic events in the past. To accurately and reliably esti...

This paper focuses on developing a model for the Indian region to simulate ground motion using the spectral element method. The topography, bathymetry, and the 3-dimensional material properties are available in the global database are considered for the region. The simulated model is validated by generating ground motions for the Nepal earthquake,...

The 2023 Nepal earthquake is one of the major earthquakes in the Himalayas after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. The shaking from the earthquake was felt strongly in Nepal and parts of Indo-Gangetic basin. In this study, we estimate the source mechanism of the earthquake using regional and teleseismic broadband seismograms, and polarity information fro...

Over the past decade, the Delhi (National Capital Region, NCR) has witnessed significant growth and has emerged as a vital center for commerce and education. This rapid urbanization owes itself to its strategic location, connecting important cities like Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida, Sonipat, and Rohtak. However, its proximity to active geological fea...

Between September 17 and 18, 2022, a series of earthquakes struck the southern Longitudinal Valley of Taiwan, causing severe damage to infrastructure, particularly bridges, railroads, buildings, and highways in Taitung and Hualien. The primary event in this sequence was the Chihshang earthquake, measuring magnitude of ML\documentclass[12pt]{minimal...

In our study, we estimated earthquake source parameters and spectral decay characteristics of 378 seismograms corresponding to 80 small earthquake events with magnitudes ranging from 1.5 to 3.5. These earthquakes occurred between July 2011 and May 2012 in the Siang region of the Arunachal Himalaya which is not well-studied. To estimate source param...

On 26th May 2021, an earthquake with a moment magnitude Mw 5.1 hit the densely populated cities of Gisenyi (Rwanda) and Goma (D.R. Congo) which sit on the active East African Rift System. It was one of the largest earthquakes associated with the 2021 Mount Nyiragongo eruption. Although of moderate magnitude, the earthquake substantially damaged man...

We estimated the source parameters for local earthquakes near the Idukki reservoir, Kerala. The region falls under seismic zone III, indicating moderate seismicity, and is reported to have witnessed several small to moderate size magnitude earthquakes. Eight local earthquakes with magnitudes ranging between 2 and 3.6 were used during the data analy...

The Garhwal region, situated in the central segment of the Himalayas, stands as one of the most seismically active areas in the Uttarakhand Himalaya. The newly established earthquake early warning (EEW) system in the Garhwal region emphasizes the critical need for magnitude scaling relations to enable real-time estimation of earthquake size. This s...

The macroseismic intensity of the February 6, 2012, Negros Oriental earthquake (MW 6.7), which affected the islands of Negros and Cebu, central Philippines, has been reassessed in this study using the Environmental Seismic Intensity Scale (ESI-2007). This earthquake caused a ∼75-km-long surface rupture along a previously unmapped fault and resulted...

The present study employs the single backscattered model proposed by Aki and Chouet (J Geophys Res 80:3322–3342, 1975) to assess the quality factor (Q) of coda waves within the Bilaspur region of the Himachal Lesser Himalaya. The investigation focuses on the attenuation of seismic waves within the frequency range of 1.5–24 Hz, utilizing coda waves...

A series of earthquakes that struck Taiwan's southern Longitudinal Valley on September 17 and 18, 2022 severely damaged several buildings in Taitung and Hualien. The Chishang earthquake, which had a magnitude of ML 6.8 and a large foreshock with a magnitude of ML 6.6 the day before, was the mainshock in this sequence. The strongest intensity report...

The cumulative absolute absement (CAA) of the 3 s window after P-wave arrival can be used to estimate the magnitude (M CAA) of an earthquake. This method can achieve good results even when only the six stations nearest to the epicenter are used. The standard deviation between the estimated CAA magnitude (M CAA) and the moment magnitude (Mw) is foun...

The tectonic collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates since 50 million years is responsible for creating the Nepal Himalayan zone as part of the whole Himalayan orogeny belt. As a result of this collision, major changes and deformation in Earth have been evolving through ongoing stress build-up and release. In this study, an overview of the...

The problem of estimating earthquake risk is one of the primary themes for researchers and investigators in the field of geosciences. The combined assessment of spatial probability and the determination of earthquake risk at large scales is challenging. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there no updated earthquake-hazard-and-risk assessments f...

An attenuation relationship, also known as ground motion prediction equation (GMPE), has been developed for Northwest Himalaya and its neighboring region using the strong-motion data recorded by National Center for Seismology Network. In the present study, we have used the 40 records of 18 earthquakes from the 2010 to 2020 having magnitudes (5.0 <...

Given the importance of site effects, the site response characteristics in the present work are evaluated at different locations of India using recorded data of three earthquakes that occurred in different parts of the country. The used earthquakes include the 2015 Afghanistan earthquake (Mw 7.5); 2016 Hindukush earthquake (Mw 6.7) and 2016 Manipur...

Estimation of stress field orientations is a necessary aspect for recognition of crustal mechanics as well as the physics behind occurrence of earthquakes. A case study employing the new MATLAB software package Spatial And Temporal Stress Inversion (SATSI) for stress inversion utilizing the focal mechanism data is presented here to produce stress o...

The proximity of Delhi and the surrounding region to the active faults along with its geographical settings is a subject of discussion to comprehend the seismic resilience of the capital region of India. The region may be affected by the far-field earthquakes from the Himalayas as well as the near-field earthquakes associated with the local seismic...

The 28th September 2018 Sulawesi Supershear earthquake (MW 7.5) was one of the deadliest earthquakes in the recent history of Indonesia causing ~4000 causalities. The earthquake caused a ~ 177 km long surface rupture along the Palu-Karo fault. Apart from surface rupture, the earthquake caused extensive earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) around...

The 4th January 2016 Manipur earthquake (Mw 6.7) occurred along the Indo-Burmese wedge and ruptured towards NW direction causing severe damage to buildings/structures in North-East (NE) Indian region. A plausible earthquake (Mw 8.0) is simulated to estimate the ground motions and associated seismic hazard by means of the waveforms of 2016 Manipur e...

Building an earthquake early warning (EEW) network requires the installation of seismic instruments around the seismogenic zone. Using low-cost sensors to build a seismic network for EEW and to generate shakemaps is a cost-effective way in the field of seismology. The National Taiwan University (NTU) network employing 762 P-Alert low-cost sensors b...

The goal of this study is to estimate the kappa (κ) parameter for a group of 12 broadband stations, located in dif- ferent geological structures in Morocco, a country with moderate seismic activity. In this study, the kappa, κ has been obtained from the spectral analysis of the shear waves of 42 earthquakes, recorded in Morocco. Using 321 seismogra...

The macroseismic intensity of the February 6, 2018, Mw 6.4, Hualien earthquake, which caused extensive damage around the Hualien area of eastern Taiwan is reassessed using the Environmental Seismic Intensity (ESI-07) scale. We compiled data on earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) caused by the 2018 Hualien earthquake, which includes surface rupt...

The earthquake early warning (EEW) system in Taiwan is the outcome of rigorous research work carried out at various levels after the occurrence of the 1986 Hualien earthquake that caused destruction. After more than 25 years of development, three different EEW systems exist in Taiwan. Currently, the nationwide regional EEW system is operated by the...

We study source parameters of 10 local earthquakes (2.7 ≤ \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$M_{w}$$\end{document} ≤ 4.5) that have occurred in the Nationa...

Seismic instrumentation for earthquake early warnings (EEWs) has improved significantly in the last few years, considering the station coverage, data quality, and the related applications. The official EEW system in Taiwan is operated by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) and is responsible for issuing the regional warning for moderate-to-large earth...

The recorded strong motion data in the Delhi region provide an excellent opportunity to study high-frequency decay parameter, kappa (κ) for the National Capital (Delhi) region and to further understand its implications to study the site effects characterized by different stations within the vicinity of the study region. The kappa values are estimat...

Two earthquakes having almost the same magnitude occurred in the Hualien area of Taiwan in 2018 and 2019. The 2018 earthquake had a magnitude ML 6.2 produced severe destruction; however, the 2019 earthquake (ML=6.3) did not cause any severe damage. The P-Alert Strong Motion Network provides real-time shakemaps, in addition, to earthquake early warn...

Using low-cost sensors to build a seismic network for earthquake early warning (EEW) and to generate shakemaps is a cost-effective way in the field of seismology. National Taiwan University (NTU) network employing 748 P-Alert sensors based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology is operational for almost the last 10 years. This instru...

Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR) of India, falls in the seismic Zone IV (Zone factor 0.24) on the seismic zoning map prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and this region may experience devastating intensities in case of plausible moderate to the major earthquake in the vicinity. The strategic geological, geomorphological, and geogr...

The radiated energy during earthquakes is one of the essential characteristics that have a significant impact on human lives. The study of the released energy during earthquakes and their distribution may provide a detailed knowledge about the driving forces. In the present work, the earthquakes having magnitude (M L) between 1.98 and 7.3 that occu...

Development of earthquake early warning system (EEWS) is in advanced stage in different parts of the world including India. The success of EEWS for mitigating seismic risk and saving human lives has been well documented in Mexico, Japan, and Taiwan, where the alert is issued to the public. Taking advantage of the recorded ground motion data from th...

Site effect estimation using recorded ground motion is an effective approach to assess the seismic hazard of a region. Keeping the same thing in mind, an endeavor is being made to study the local site effects at different locations in the North East region of India through analysis of recorded strong ground motion data provided by Indian strong mot...

This article aims to estimate attenuation parameters in North-West Himalayas from various earthquakes recorded from 2005 to 2014.The special focus is kept on Kappa value (κ), which shows variable values at different locations. The value of kappa varies from 0.03-0.095 s. The coda wave quality factor ( Qc) has been estimated for two clusters; one in...

We conducted 2D resistivity survey along nine survey lines and inverted them to 3D model by combining 2D data in the Gunshuiping mud volcano in order to understand: 1) the relationship between the resistivity image and the mud–fluid distribution, and 2) the influences of earthquakes and typhoon on mud volcanoes. The three long survey lines passed t...

Uttarakhand Himalayas are highly sensitive to seismic hazard with possible occurrence of high-magnitude earthquakes. Fewer waveforms are available from previously recorded earthquakes, which are insufficient for carrying out seismic hazard studies. The recently installed strong motion instrumentation network (SMIN) in India, particularly, in Indian...

Earthquake Early Warning (EEW, a life-saving tool) system in India is in its early stage. In recent time, India set up an EEW system in the central seismic gap (CSG) along the Himalayan Belt, which is highly sensitive to the seismic risk with the potential of strong, major and great earthquakes. Almost 200 low-cost P-Alert sensors have been install...

Delhi the national capital of India is highly sensitive to seismic risk with possible occurrence of higher magnitude earthquake from the Himalayas and in its vicinity. Some higher magnitude earthquakes occurred in this region in past 200 years, but few recorded waveforms are available from these historical earthquakes. But in recent time, the stron...

Recently, the P‐wave‐alert‐device (P‐alert) network, which is a dense array of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers that was developed and installed by National Taiwan University for the purposes of earthquake early warnings, has recorded a large number of strong‐motion records for moderate‐to‐large earthquakes throughout Taiwan. How...

Three chief tectonic sub-regions of India (GSI, 2000) are the mighty Himalayas along the north, the plains of the Ganges and other rivers, and the peninsula. The Himalayas consist primarily of sediments accumulated over long geological time in the Tethys. A number of efforts are being made to study seismic hazard from earthquakes originating from H...

In 2013, a new network of broadband seismic stations was deployed in the Caucasus region. Broadband displacement data are inverted for the seismic moment tensor of two medium-sized earthquakes occurring in northeast Georgia (17 September 2013, Mw~5.1) and northern Armenia (26 May 2014, Mw~3.6), respectively. The peak ground velocity (PGV) is estima...

North-East India is located in one of the most seismic prone areas of the world. India has faced several devastat-ing earthquakes in the past. The largest of these have originated in the Himalayan plate boundary region, which has remained a region of great scientific and engineering interest. In spite of this, very little seismological information...

Uttarakhand, a state of India, is located in seismically active Himalayan region and in the proximity of plate boundaries. The effects of important ground motion parameters like magnitude, distance, and local geology and site conditions on acceleration response spectra are examined in Uttarakhand Himalayas in this work. A total of 447 strong ground...

The Caucasus region is at the boundary between Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. The continuous North-South compression of the collision not only produced the Caucasus mountain belts but also the westward extrusion of the wedged Anatolia block. In comparison to the surrounding regions, the seismicity in the Caucasus is relatively h...

The main goal of present study is to test the functionality of earthquake early warning (EEW) system in India using the recorded earthquake data from Taiwan. In recent time, India set up an EEW system in central seismic gap (CSG) along Himalayan belt, consisting of 100 low-cost P-alert instruments. The area, where these instruments are installed is...

On 5 February 2016, a moderate earthquake occurred in southwestern Taiwan with ML 6.4 and a focal depth of 16.7 km. This earthquake caused damage to a few buildings and 117 casualties. A low-cost earthquake early warning (EEW) system (P-alert) is in operation for the purpose of EEWand for providing near-real-time shake maps. During this event, a de...

Uttarakhand Himalayas is highly sensitive to seismic risk with possible occurrence of higher magnitude earthquake. Some higher magnitude earthquakes occurred along this belt in past 200 years, but few recorded waveforms are available from these historical earthquakes. But in recent time, the strong motion instrumentation network (SGMN) in India is...

Since the inception of the borehole seismic array deployed by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) in Taiwan in recent years, a large quantity of strong‐motion records have been accumulated from frequently occurring earthquakes around Taiwan that provide the opportunity to investigate the spectral decay parameter kappa (κ) and to understand further the...

In present work, seismic hazard from future earthquake is worked out for Delhi region in terms of different strong motion parameters such as peak ground acceleration (PGA), characteristics frequency and spectral acceleration (Sa). The earthquake of March 5, 2012, is taken as key earthquake for synthesis. Stochastic finite modeling technique based o...

A significant seismic quiescence in Taiwan was reported by Wu and Chiao (2006) before the occurrence of the 1999 Mw 7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake. A similar kind of activity was also observed in the 2012 earthquake catalog reported by Central Weather Bureau (CWB). Seven months in the 2012 catalog seem to have lower monthly seismicity rates than the one st...

Site characterization is one of the most important aspects of any strong-motion instrumentation. Nowadays it has become common practice to provide the characterization details up to bedrock level. Without proper site characterization, strong-motion records of any station cannot be fully utilized. In India, strong-motion instrumentation sites were c...

In the present work, ground motion is estimated from future scenario earthquakes at different sites in Uttarakhand Himalayas in India using empirical Green’s function (EGF) technique. The recorded ground motion from April 4, 2011, Mw 5.4 earthquake is taken as a basic element. The ground motion is estimated at 24 sites, where the element earthquake...

Possibility of getting full advantage of EEW system in northern India is perhaps highest, in comparison to any other place in world as potential source of large earthquakes are located in Himalayas, whereas the centers of large population and industrial hubs (including capital city New Delhi) are in plains adjoining Himalayas, roughly at a distance...

The evaluation of attenuation of seismic waves in a seismically active region plays an important role in risk studies. Generally, damages are resulted from the amplitude of waves originating from the earthquake source, which are highly dependent on attenuation property of the medium. Therefore, the good knowledge of attenuation is the first step fo...

Central Himalaya particularly part of Uttarakhand have been identified by several eminent seismologists as gap area where large size earthquake (greater than magnitude 7) is due. Several studies have shown that a large earthquake in this area will generate quite severe ground motion in Delhi which is about 300 km from this expected source. Several...

Central Himalaya particularly part of Uttarakhand have been identified by several eminent seismologists as gap area where large size earthquake (greater than magnitude 7) is due. Several studies have shown that a large earthquake in this area will generate quite severe ground motion in Delhi which is about 300 km from this expected source. Several...

In the present study, Kishtwar-Dharamshala region of north-west Himalaya that experienced about 30 earthquakes in last three years having magnitudes between 4.0 to 5.8 has been studied. This region falls in zone IV according to the Seismic Zoning map of India and marked with number of regional and local thrusts faults. This region experienced aroun...

In this work, an attempt has been made to simulate strong ground motion of Mw 5.4 earthquake in Kumaun region of Uttarakhand. The simulation is based on modified stochastic finite modeling technique with dynamic corner frequency (Motazedian and Atkinson in Bull Seismol Soc Am 95:995–1010, 2005). Ground motion is simulated for 24 sites, where a magn...

The Uttarakhand region of North-West Himalaya exhibits high historic and instrumental seismicity as evidenced by the occurrence of several moderate to large-sized earthquakes in the region. Source parameters of 16 small and moderate-sized earthquakes (3.1≤Mw≤6.7) have been estimated and a scaling law for the region has been developed. In this study...

A dataset of 20 local earthquakes (3.4≤Mw≤5.2) occurred in the Himachal Himalaya recorded by Indian nation strong motion instrumentation network have been analyzed to infer the characteristics of high frequency attenuation of observed earthquake spectrum and source parameters of earthquakes of this region. In this study Brune's earthquake source mo...

In the present study, ground motions for Mw5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 scenario earthquakes are estimated at one hard rock site Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in Delhi using the empirical Green’s function technique. The recordings of the 7th September 2011 earthquake of Mw3.9 at the DJB site are used as an element earthquake. Our computations show that an Mw5.0 earth...

A data set of 60 local events (1.9 ≤ M w ≤ 3.6) collected by a temporary digital network deployed in the Siang region of Arunachal Lesser Himalaya during July 2011 to Feburary 2012 is analysed to study the source parameters and f max. The software EQK_SRC_PARA (Kumar et al. in Int J Geosci 3(5):1142–1149, 2012) that considers Brune’s model with a h...

Earthquakes began to occur in Koyna region (India) soon after the filling of Koyna Dam in 1962. In the present study, three datasets 1964–1993, 1993–1995, and 1996–1997 are analyzed to study the b-value and fractal dimension. The b-value is calculated using the Gutenberg–Richter relationship and fractal dimension D corr. using correlation integral...

Earthquakes cause loss of life and property. In order to cop up hazard made by earthquakes it is essential to study their nature. Scientists over the world are in progress to study various aspects of earthquakes. This paper presents a brief overview regarding some of the specific studies related to the developments of earthquake source models and s...

The main objective of the seismic instrumentation is to record the ground motion arising due to natural and manmade disturbances and, in particular, to monitor the seismicity of a given region. Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IITR) is operating a nationwide network of instruments for recording strong ground motion. Total 300 instruments ar...