India has released a revised seismic zonation map under the Earthquake Design Code 2025, placing the entire Himalayan arc from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh under a newly created highest-risk Zone VI for the first time. This landmark shift means that approximately 61% of the country now falls within moderate to high hazard zones, with three-quarters of India’s population residing in seismically active areas. As the nation grapples with this reality, examining the world’s most earthquake-resistant structures offers critical lessons for architects, engineers, and policymakers in the Himalayan region.
India’s New Seismic Reality
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) issued the updated zonation map on 28 November 2025, marking a radical departure from previous assessments that divided the Himalayan belt between Zones IV and V. The new Zone VI classification acknowledges that the entire region is capable of producing earthquakes of magnitude 8 and above on the Richter scale. Previously, seismic mapping relied heavily on past earthquake locations and historical damage patterns; the revised map employs internationally accepted Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) methodology that models fault segments, locked sections, and rupture potential more accurately.
A key advancement in the 2025 code is the recognition that Himalayan Frontal Thrust ruptures may propagate southward into densely populated foothill regions like Dehradun. Towns situated on the boundary of two zones will now automatically default to the higher-risk classification, moving away from administrative boundaries toward geological realities.
Five Earthquake-Resistant Buildings and Their Engineering Secrets
1. Taipei 101, Taiwan: The 660-Ton Pendulum Guardian
Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper, standing at 508 metres with 101 floors, was built in one of the world’s most seismically and typhoon-prone regions—the Pacific Ring of Fire. The building’s crowning achievement in earthquake resistance is its tuned mass damper (TMD), a 660-metric-ton golden steel sphere suspended between the 87th and 92nd floors.
The Technique: This massive pendulum sways in the opposite direction to the building’s movement during seismic or wind events, absorbing kinetic energy and reducing building sway by up to 40%. The damper consists of 41 steel plates, each 125mm thick, welded together to form a 5.5-metre diameter sphere hung from 92 cables. During the April 2024 earthquake of magnitude 7.4—Taiwan’s strongest in 25 years—video footage showed the building barely swaying, a testament to the damper’s effectiveness.
Additionally, Taipei 101’s foundation includes 380 piles reaching depths of up to 100 feet, and its blue-green glass curtain walls can sustain impacts of 7 metric tons while accommodating up to 95mm of seismic lateral displacement without damage.
2. Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco: Standing Firm on the San Andreas Faul
San Francisco faces a 72% probability of experiencing an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater in the coming decades, given its proximity to the San Andreas, Calaveras, and Hayward Faults. The 260-metre, 48-storey Transamerica Pyramid, completed in 1972, was purpose-built to withstand California’s seismic challenges.
The Technique: The building’s earthquake resilience begins with its 2.7-metre thick foundation base, comprising 12,000 cubic metres of concrete and 480 kilometres of steel rebar, poured continuously over three days. A four-storey steel and concrete truss webbing wraps around the base, extending 15.5 metres below ground level, forming the primary structural support against horizontal forces.
The pyramid’s distinctive tapering shape naturally provides stability, while its exterior framework is reinforced with interior frames rising to the 17th and 45th floors, providing resistance to torsional movements. In 1989, the building dramatically proved its worth when the 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake shook the structure for over a minute. Despite the top floor swaying 30 centimetres side-to-side, no structural damage or serious injuries were reported.
3. Burj Khalifa, Dubai: The Y-Shaped Giant
At 828 metres, the Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building and is engineered to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 7.0—exceeding Dubai’s standard requirement of 5.9 magnitude for tall buildings.
The Technique: The skyscraper employs a buttressed core system with a hexagonal concrete core supported by Y-shaped buttresses, giving it a stable “tripod-like” stance that resists twisting and swaying during seismic events. The Y-shaped floor plan provides natural stability against lateral forces.
The building rests on reinforced concrete piles, each approximately 43 metres long and 1.5 metres in diameter, spreading the tower’s weight and seismic forces over a larger area. Outrigger walls connect perimeter columns to interior walling at mechanical floors, allowing perimeter columns to support lateral resistance while vertical columns carry gravitational loads. A network of motion sensors throughout the structure detects and reports unusual structural movements, and the building is connected to the Oasis earthquake detection system for coordinated early warning across Dubai’s tall buildings.
4. Tokyo Skytree, Japan: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Engineering
At 634 metres, the Tokyo Skytree is the world’s tallest free-standing tower, built in one of Earth’s most earthquake-prone regions. Its design ingeniously combines 1,300-year-old Japanese pagoda technology with cutting-edge engineering.
The Technique: The tower employs Shimbashira-Seishin (Centre Column Vibration Control), a proven technology used in traditional five-storey pagodas where a central column allows independent movement of different building segments. In the Skytree, a central reinforced concrete shaft is attached to the outer steel structure for the first 125 metres; above this height, oil dampers connect the core to the tower frame, allowing the inner and outer structures to sway independently and cancel out earthquake-induced movements.
The damping system can absorb 50% of an earthquake’s energy. At the foundation level, the tower rests on seismic base isolators—massive rubber pads 1.4 metres thick—that allow the structure to flex without damage. The triangular base design anchors the structure with three clusters of deep wall pile foundations driven 50 metres into the earth, while reinforced concrete walls create friction to counteract seismic and wind forces.
5. Sabiha Gökçen Airport Terminal, Istanbul: The World’s Largest Seismically Isolated Building
When it opened in 2009, Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport terminal became the world’s largest seismically isolated building, spanning over 320,000 square metres. Istanbul’s location near the North Anatolian Fault—less than 25 kilometres away—and the intersection of the Arabian, African, and Eurasian tectonic plates made extreme earthquake protection essential, especially after the 1999 magnitude 7.4 earthquake that killed 17,000 people.
The Technique: The terminal is not anchored directly to the ground; instead, it rests on more than 300 base isolators—special bearings designed to shift laterally during seismic events, allowing the entire structure to move as a cohesive unit. These include triple friction pendulum bearings that can handle varying earthquake strengths and ensure the structure returns to its original position after an event.
This innovative design reduces lateral acceleration to just one-fifth of what the building would experience without such protection. The terminal was tested against 14 different earthquake simulations and is engineered to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8.0. Arup engineer Atila Zekioglu explained that isolation systems absorb earthquake energy by enabling the structure to move in unison through controlled displacements.
Implications for India’s Himalayan States
The new seismic zonation mandates uniform, stringent design standards for all Himalayan states, eliminating previous inconsistencies where adjacent districts followed different construction norms. The BIS has urged immediate adoption of the 2025 codes, affecting builders and urban planners across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nepal border regions, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
With 61% of India’s landmass now classified under moderate to high hazard zones, up from 59% under previous estimates, the economic and human stakes are immense. The global examples of Taipei 101, Transamerica Pyramid, Burj Khalifa, Tokyo Skytree, and Sabiha Gökçen Airport demonstrate that building resilience against earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher is not only technically achievable but has been repeatedly proven effective in real seismic events.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
