2020 Tuipuiral Earthquake Review

Tuipuiral is located in the eastern end of Mizoram in Champhai District sharing its international border with Myanmar. The region is frequented by many microearthquakes along with some of the noticeable disastrous earthquakes in the past in this area. An earthquake of magnitude Mw 5.6 was reported on the 22 June 2020 at 10:46:25 IST at 23.8867 latitude and 93.1256 longitude at a depth of about 12 km followed by another earthquake of Mw 5.6 on 22 June 2020 at 04:10:52 IST at similar focal depth. This resulted in sporadic damages around Champhai District, Mizoram. The tremors were felt strongly in the capital city Aizawl. The earthquake was followed by a number of aftershock as well. The present paper is a report on the damage observed around the area. It was observed that, though the earthquake may be placed under minor-moderate earthquake, yet the damage observed was much greater than expected. The paper highlights macroseismic effects of the earthquake through field observations, assessing the damage pattern of buildings and wrong construction practices occurring in the area along with its remedial measures. The relatively more damage observed is attributed to the vulnerable construction practices and poor quality workmanship.