The Issue: What if a quake hits Bangalore?

Two months ago, such a suggestion would have been scoffed at from Bangalore

to Timbuktu. Post-Gujarat, people don’t laugh anymore…

The day after the earth shook in Bhuj and Ahmedabad, Bangalore felt a tremor,

which peaked 4.1 on the Richter scale. Rumors flew of another major tremor

expected between 11 am and noon. People came out of their homes and stood on

roads and parks. Schools told parents they could take their children back. Major

companies, including multinational IT firms, told employees they could go home

if they wanted to…many did.

According to Nasscom, 160 of 700 major software houses are headquartered in

Bangalore. That is almost 23% of the software industry. In revenue terms,

Bangalore’s share would be much larger than that, though no estimates are

available. Though the city lies in Zone I (or the least susceptible) of the

seismic chart, images of Bhuj and Ahmedabad, and not long ago, Latur (another

supposedly safe region) are still fresh.

The Scenario

Let’s

avoid bad taste, and let’s just say if a quake of magnitude 6 on the Richter

hits Bangalore, the Indian software industry will more or less have to start

from scratch.