The Killari (Latur) earthquake of 30th September, 1993 caused considerable damage to life and property in Central India. Besides killing more than 10,000 people and damaging property worth billions of rupees, it also reopened the controversy about the seismic stability of the Peninsular Shield. The moderate earthquakes at Koyna in 1967 and Bhadrachalam in 1969 showed that the Peninsular Shield is not as stable as it was believed. The Killari earthquake has only reinforced the view of seismic instability of the shield. Geological Survey of India, as the apex geoscientific organization, was responsible for introducing systematic seismological studies in our country after great Assam earthquake of 1897. Since then, systematic studies were being continued in different parts of the country by the Department, specially in the earthquake-prone zones. Though much effort has been made in this field during the last few decades, it has not been possible to understand the seismic characteristics of the entire country, particularly in the stable continental region. Killari earthquake in the Peninsular Shield is a pointer in this direction. In Central India, there is an additional problem for seismic evaluation that the basement structures which are the guiding factors for such a zonation, are obscured by the Deccan Trap cover. Inter-disciplinary surveys with emphasis on detailed geophysical studies could, however, provide important data pertaining to the controlling parameters of seismogenic zonation. In order to focus the attention on these aspects, following the devastating earthquake, a workshop was organised at Hyderabad by Geological Survey of India, on Killari Earthquake, during December, 1993 with Dr. M. Ramakrishnan as Convenor and S.V.G. Krishna Rao, as Organising Secretary. A large number of papers covering different aspects of the problem were presented at this workshop. Twenty eight papers covering different sub-disciplines presented in the above workshop are included in this volume.
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