1997 Jabalpur earthquake

Damage and casualties

Major damage occurred to structures in the Jabalpur District, Mandla District, Seoni District and Chhindwara District in Madhya Pradesh. Jabalpur and Mandla were the worst affected districts. A total of 887 villages were affected. Approximately 8,546 houses collapsed and nearly 52,690 houses were partially damaged. Some aftershock activity occurred, but they did not cause any additional damage. Longitudinal ground cracks were observed in some locations of the affected area.

The affected region consisted of both rural and urban areas and the campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University was the worst affected structure in the urban area. Diagonal cracks occurred in walls, buildings were partially collapsed and the hostel for postgraduate students was severely damaged. Approximately 1,500 houses owned by the Indian Railways were damaged. In Jabalpur, a 500,000 gallon-capacity shaft-supported water tank for storage and distribution of drinking water sustained both horizontal cracking and diagonal cracking. Some earthen dams located in the districts of Jabalpur and Mandla reportedly developed longitudinal cracks.