Journal of Geosciences and Geomatics, 2019, Vol. 7, No. 2, 88-96 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/jgg/7/2/5 Published by Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/jgg-7-2-5 Earthquake - A Natural Disaster, Prediction, Mitigation, Laws and Government Policies, Impact on Biogeochemistry of Earth Crust, Role of Remote Sensing and GIS in Management in India - An Overview Deepak Singh 1,* , D. N. Pandey 2 , Usha Mina 1 1 School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India 2 Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India *Corresponding author: deepaksingh1947@gmail.com Received December 27, 2018; Revised February 11, 2019; Accepted February 19, 2019 Abstract The whole world from time to time is exposed to the unpredictable disaster called Earthquake which causes immense damage to the infrastructure, life and injury to the people. The present manuscript tries to discuss different aspects of the Earthquake in the present scenario in India and the role of government and its policies, society, schools and technology for the prevention and mitigation measures and impact on biogeochemistry of the earth crust. Due to location of India in tropics and happening of plate tectonic activities under and around the Indian plates has made India prone to the different types of disaster of which one of them is the Earthquake. The prediction of Earthquake is still not possible accurately. In India, during the 10 th Five year plan, there has been paradigm shift in the laws and policies related to the disaster management. A separate act called Disaster Management Act-2005, has been passed by the Parliament of India. This act provides institutional, legal, financial and coordination mechanisms at the national, state, district and local levels for management of all types of disaster happening in India. This law made the role of government from relief oriented measures to the prevention and preparedness. During the Earthquake, there occurs a different type of impacts on the Biogeochemistry of the earth crust. Among them, there are the impacts on biodiversity of living organisms, variation in the water levels, folding and faulting in the crust of the Earth and generation of sea waves called Tsunami etc. Technology in the form of remote sensing and GIS can play important role and can be used before and after the occurrence of Earthquake for proper management. The Earthquake is a disaster which is unpredictable, untimely and we lack of mechanism and technology to predict its time of happening precisely. With regard to Earthquake disaster, we can only prepare our self, take preventive and preparedness measures, so that there is less damage to infrastructure and loss of life. This can be achieved by investing more in research and development of tools for prediction, proper understanding of Earthquake phenomenon, along with it there is need to concentrate more on prevention, preparedness and mitigation before and quick relief to the people after the occurrence of Earthquake. Keywords: Earthquake, natural disaster, remote sensing, GIS, government laws and policy, biogeochemistry Cite This Article: Singh Deepak, Pandey D. N., and Mina Usha, “Earthquake - A Natural Disaster, Prediction, Mitigation, Laws and Government Policies, Impact on Biogeochemistry of Earth Crust, Role of Remote Sensing and GIS in Management in India - An Overview.” Journal of Geosciences and Geomatics, vol. 7, no. 2 (2019): 88-96. doi: 10.12691/jgg-7-2-5. 1. Introduction From the time of origin, the earth was exposed to different types of hazards and disaster from time to time. The earth, due to its internal structure, is prone to different types of natural disasters. They come in different frequency every year in most part of the world. Natural hazard is threat while disaster is an event. The disaster can be natural or artificially created by the different types of activities of human beings [1,2,3]. Since the origin of the earth, due to different types of plate tectonic movement, the earth is exposed to different types of hazards. When the human civilisation came into existence, these events started affecting and became disaster for the human beings. Earth has very diverse type of climate, meteorological conditions existing above the surface of the earth along with it earth has very peculiar internal structure [4,5,6,7]. Different types of condition above the surface and below the types of natural hazards. When these hazards cause loss of human beings and cause economic damage, it becomes disaster. There are different types of hazards which can be divided into two types: Natural hazards:- These are those hazards which occurs due to the natural forces like climatic forces,