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An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude of an earthquake is conventionally reported, or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.
At the Earth’s surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by a shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. When a large earthquake epicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.
In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments.
An earthquake’s point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term epicenter means the point at ground level directly above this.
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The amount of water available per person in India is decreasing steadily – from 3450 cm in 1951, it fell to 1250 cm in 1999. According to the Ministry of Water Resources is expected to decrease further to 760 cm per person in 2050.8 Water scarcity is the single biggest threat to food production, as falling groundwater levels and shrinking rivers make less water available for agriculture. Water is a key productive resource for growing food and raising cattle. Sustained access to water for irrigation is a question of survival for about 70% of the Indian population.This number includes disadvantaged and marginalized farmers and those surviving by subsistence farming as well as agricultural labourers. The impact of a lack of access to water has been dramatically exposed during the last years in drought-prone areas throughout the country. Basically water is required for agriculture and domestic consumption. Apart from this water is used by industries.

Agriculture accounts for almost 80 per cent of water use in India.The FAO estimates that due to population growth there is a needfor additional 60 percent more food in the next 30 years. This estimate assumes that the current water intensive agriculture is continued. Hence a review of water use in agriculture is a must; demand management both in agriculture and industry is an imperative in this regard. Ground water is the major source of irrigation in India. It fulfils almost 60 percent of the country’s total irrigation needs, in rainless areas this rate being even much higher. Over 70 per cent of the value of farm produce depends on ground water. However, excessive depletion of groundwater

reserves has led to a dramatic decrease of the groundwater
level. Moreover crops that need more water (paddy, sugar cane) are being farmed replacing the traditional products consuming less water (millet). Industry too has become a huge consumer of ground water in agricultural areas.

Diverting water from domestic and agriculture to industries poses serious problems. In most parts of India, ground water mining is taking place at twice the rate of natural recharge causing aquifers to drop by 1 to 3 meters every year. Till date, many private corporations contribute to the excessive depletion of groundwater.