Thirty-two years ago today, on September 30, 1993 (August 15, 1993 lunar calendar), a powerful earthquake struck India. Women crying after the disaster At 3:50 am on September 30, 1993, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck the western state of Maharashtra, India. 73 villages near Latour, the epicenter of the earthquake, were destroyed. The death toll has exceeded 20,000. Indian authorities estimate that the number of people may eventually reach 30,000, making it the deadliest earthquake in India this century. As the rescue work unfolds, people also begin to ask some questions about this earthquake. Why is the death toll so high? Experts in Mumbai, India, believe that the reason for the high death rate of the Latour earthquake is that the area is densely populated, and the second is that the earthquake occurred in the early morning when people were sleeping at home, and more importantly, the building characteristics of the local residents. Latour is a poor agricultural area. Local residents lack earthquake experience. Most of their houses are built of stone adobe, with thick but not strong walls. The houses have no foundation and poor earthquake resistance. In the event of an earthquake, the houses collapse, and the stone adobe is smashed down one after another, becoming a pile of rubble, burying the sleeping people inside. The rubble formed by the earth and stone does not form a small space for the buried people to survive like the cement pillars of modern buildings. From the rescue excavation, it can be found that there are few survivors buried in the rubble pile, so the death toll is high. Why did the earthquake happen here? After the Latour earthquake, Adhwani, chairperson of India's largest opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, blamed the Indian government for causing so many deaths by failing to warn local residents in advance. He said local residents reported that at least 1,500 small earthquakes had occurred in the Latour region since September 1992. On September 19 this year, a strong earthquake occurred in the Hlaare region near Latour, and the Indian government has always turned a blind eye to this. The past few major earthquakes in India have occurred in the northern region near the Himalayas, and Maharashtra has not been considered a region that is likely to experience major earthquakes. "We are confused and need to investigate to see if cracks in the crust are active in this area," said Paddy, deputy director-general of the Geological Survey of India. He said that the Latour region is located on the oldest and most solid rock formation in the South Asian subcontinent, and the Geological Survey of India has always believed that this area will not experience serious earthquakes. Some Indian public opinion believes that some new large reservoirs are the reason for the increase in earthquakes in India in recent years, but experts have not supported this. Can disasters be prevented and losses reduced? After the Latour earthquake, the Indian government immediately mobilized the army to rush to the disaster area for rescue. By October 3, the first phase of searching for survivors and dealing with the dead was basically over, and the second phase of resettling the victims to help them rebuild their homes was gradually underway. Due to the severe earthquake damage, the Indian government agreed to accept foreign aid to the disaster area for the first time since the founding of the country in 1947, and relief goods have begun to be shipped to the disaster area. But residents in the earthquake area still have lingering fears. Residents in the Latour area have preferred to sleep in the open for three consecutive nights rather than in a roofed place. There is also news that an earthquake will hit Maharashtra this December or next January, adding to the panic. They asked whether such a serious natural disaster could be prevented, or at least its losses could be greatly reduced? The dead family of three