This study analyzes the exposure of energy and transport assets in Asia and the Pacific to climate change and earthquake hazards and highlights how multi-hazard assessment can help strengthen the resilience of crucial infrastructure. Geolocating and undertaking a multi-hazard assessment of more than 30,000 infrastructure assets, the study identifies significant …
ANALYSIS of scientific data reveals that geysers -- the hot springs that intermittently throw up columns of water -- can indicate in advance the arrival of an earthquake (Science, Vol 257 No 5075). Scientists Paul G Silver and Nathalie J Valette-Silver of the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC say variations …
Can earthquakes be forecast? After investing one billion dollars in a 30-year earthquake prediction programme, Japanese scientists have virtually admitted failure (Nature, Vol 358 No 6835). A recent review of the programme by Japanese officials indicated several abnormal phenomena could not be objectively identified as quake precursors. For instance, earthquake …
FLASH floods and landslides in the Himalaya are caused at times by unplanned development. On August 14 last year, the fast-developing town of Gopeshwar and its surrounding villages was inundated by heavy rainfall and 27 people were killed in resulting landslides. Flooding caused by an irrigation channel left incomplete by …
"The sky is going to fall on our heads," was the thought that ran through the mind of many of Dhedsari's residents. A cloud that should have caused rain to fall over a few days, burst like a bubble and the water poured down all at once in the evening …
Many springs changed colour and flow after the earthquake. The Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology says a large number of springs became completely dry, but some began to discharge murky water with a burnt smell. In other places, discharge levels recorded perceptible increases -- about eight times the normal flow …
RAIN IN the hills usually evokes romantic images. But in the Himalaya, the monsoon often becomes macabre. It had been raining incessantly through the evening of September 2 and the inhabitants of the seven villages in the Angoth gram sabha of Chamoli district were getting ready to sleep. In nearby …
THE COMMITTEE appointed by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to examine the viability of the Tehri hydroelectric project will not submit its report before mid-August. It was supposed to have the report ready by the end of June. One of the experts explained, "We have been asked to give …
JUST 55 seconds in duration, it left 1,000 people dead. The earthquake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, which devastated the hills of Uttarkashi, Tehri Garhwal and Chamoli districts in UP last October, also left 20 per cent of the houses in the region totally destroyed or severely damaged. What …
"EARTHQUAKES don't kill, buildings do," says John Beynon, principal architect at UNESCO's regional office in Bangkok. Today, people are shifting to "killer buildings" as they give up their traditional building technologies in favour of modern designs and materials. This disastrous transformation has taken place not just in Garhwal, but idso …
The four recent major earthquakes of the Himalayan Convergence Zone, viz., the Kangra earthquake of 1905, the Bihar-Nepal earthquake of 1934, and the two Assam earthquakes of 1897 and 1950 were assigned magnitudes greater than 8 by Richter. Although estimates of areas vary, it is agreed that an extended rupture …
Brief studies of microearthquakes in four separate parts of eastern Afghanistan reveal a high level of seismicity over a broad area. In general, the activity is not concentrated on well-defined faults, nor does it define new faults, but seismicity on or close to the Chainart and Sarubi faults attests to …
The fourth International Conference on Disaster Management is being reconvened following the success of the previous three meetings, held at Wessex Institute in the New Forest in 2009, the University of Central Florida in Orlando, USA in 2011 and A Coruña, Spain in 2013.This series of conferences originated with the …
On Monday the 15th January 1934 Calcutta experienced an earthquake shock of fair intensity which lasted for over three minutes. News from the country was available only next morning, showing that Patna, Monghyr and Jamalpur had suffered severely. News from the most affected region arrived only two or three days …
