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country’s commercial MUMBAI, Feb 1: Is country’s commercial capital, Mumbai, safe from earthquakes ? This is the question which is being asked by the residents of this island city following the January 26 earthquake that devastated several parts of Gujarat.....more
HP CM for quake SHIMLA, Feb 1: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said the Government would consider that new buildings in Shimla, Dharamsala and other parts ......more Kargil Fund collected JAIPUR, Feb 1: A major share of the fund collected by the Rajastan Government for helping the families of the Kargil martyrs is still...more Rann of Kutch is most MUMBAI, Feb 1: The devastating earthquake in North Gujarat, which may possibly be one of the deadliest quakes of our times, brought into focus the ....more |
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Mahanta re-elected GUWAHATI, Feb 1: Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has been unanimously......more Lt Navneet Rai cremated LUCKNOW, Feb 1: The mortal remains of Lt. Navneet Rai, who died fighting militants in Kupwara....more Blood donors throng NEW DELHI, Feb 1: Enthusiastic volunteers are queuing up for donating blood at Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) camp.....more
BJP will not abandon NEW DELHI, Feb 1: BJP president Bangaru Laxman today said even if the party were to get a majority on its own in......more |
Is country’s commercial capital safe from quakes? MUMBAI, Feb 1: Is country’s commercial capital, Mumbai, safe from earthquakes ? This is the question which is being asked by the residents of this island city following the January 26 earthquake that devastated several parts of Gujarat. The Republic Day earthquake measured 5.1 on the richter scale and since then there have been 108 aftershocks in the city. The risk assessment and vulnerability analysis in Maharashtra following the deadly earthquake of Latur-Osmanabad earthquake on September 30, 1993, has placed Mumbai as a district of maximum risk as far as earthquake is concerned. The 11 other districts in Maharashtra which face maximum risk apart from the state capital, which is also the commercial capital of the country, are the adjoining Thane district, Latur, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Nagpur, Nashik, Satara, Pune, Sangli and Ratnagiri. The background paper prepared by the Maharashtra Disaster Management plan puts the vulnerability as high. The impact of a major earthquake in the commercial capital could be devastating as it is an important business centre, according to it. While most of the sky-scrappers in the city are earthquake resistant but it may be unlikely that it could escape a major earthquake like the one that occurred near Bhuj. However, the comprehensive disaster management plan, which is one of the best in the country, aims to educate the people about the dos and dont’s in a crisis situation. The 1993 Latur earthquake measuring 6.4 on the richter scale (with epicentre in Killari) and the December 11, 1967 earthquake at Koyana measuring 6.3 prompted the Maharashtra Government to come out with the disaster management plan and a full-fledged system in place now. According to experts and geophysicists, Maharashtra occupies the central-western portion of peninsular India, technically an intraplate continental area. Extensive research carried out by various agencies reveal that the state is covered by Deccan traps — a sequence of basalt flows formed over 65 million years ago. Though the area was understood seismically stable, thie belief was shattered following the Koyana and Latur earthquakes. This led to the review of the seismic history and stability which found as many as 12 districts to be earthquake prone. Thus, the tectonic stability of the deccan plateau may appear to be inconsistent with observed level of seismity — this apparent contradiction reflects the primitive knowledge of seismigenisis in stable continental region and is the root of the problem of risk assessment of an earthquake, according to the paper on risk analysis prepared as part of the Maharashtra Emergency Earthquake Rehabilitation Programme (MEERP) of the Maharashtra Disaster Management Plan (MDMP). According to the research paper, Maharashtra and its adjoining regions are prone to earthquakes of moderate magnitude as can be seen from the experience of several years. Koyna regions experiences the maximum number of tremors in Maharashtra. During the 35 years between 1963 and 1997, records indicate that the Koyna region has faced 1,02,715 tremors, of which 79 were of above magnitude of four on the richter scale and seven were above five. Even last year in the month of March there was an earthquake in the region which was measured over five richter. Excluding the Koyana region, and other regions of Killari, Khardi (Bhatsa) and Medhi (Surya) has also been rocked by tremors. The Deouskar Committee of 1995, which had studied the pattern of seismicity in Maharashtra has shown a major alignment along the west coast of western ghats region. Seismic activity can be seen near Ratnagiri, along the western coast, Koyna Nagar and Bhatsa and Surya regions of Thane district. The north-south trend continues further deep inside Gujarat. The striking characteristic of this narrow region is its alignment with the hot-spring belt. It appears that the off-coast activity is associated with submerged faults along the western coast of Maharashtra. In north Maharashtra, the seismic activity near Dhule, Akola, Jalgaon and Amrawati could be due to the movements on the faults present in the area associated with the complex systems of the Narmada-Tapi and Purna lineaments. In north-east corner of Maharashtra, the earthquake activity in Nagpur and Bhandara districts may be associated with the Deolapar thrust or sheared and faulted zones of Ramtek and Sakoli basins. Isolated activity has also been witnessed near Beed, Nanded, Ujjani and Solapur in eastern Maharashtra and Uran, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg in south-west Maharashtra. Seismity is also witnessed near Bhatsanagar and Suryanagar. The west coast — western ghat seismogenic region is the most active area in Maharashtra. The Koyana-Warna and Bhatsa areas are located in this region. Earthquake risk assessment is the most difficult in Maharashtra because of the lack of seismic instrumentation in large parts of the state. In view of the increased seismic activity, need for more seismic instrumentation and research in this field in this area has been stressed. Dr V Subramanian, retired IIT Professor of Earth Sciences — who was appointed by the State Government after the Latur quake to study the occurances of earthquakes in Maharashtra, has pointed out in his findings about several fault zones. The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism here and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre here has also made references about several seismic faults in and around Mumbai. According to a study, three major faults pass through Thane Creek, Panvel Creek and the Amba River or the Dharamtar Creek. Other faults lie in Ulhas River, Manori Creek, Malad Creek and the three lakes — Powai, Vihar and Tulsi. Another fault stretches from northward of Colaba, touching Malabar Hill. (UNI) |
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HP CM for quake resistant buildings SHIMLA, Feb 1: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said the Government would consider that new buildings in Shimla, Dharamsala and other parts of the state were constructed with earthquake resistant technology. The Government could also consider making a law in this respect, he said yesterday while speaking at a function marking the launch of a plan to upgrade Shimla town. He planted a sapling of ‘Chinar’ in Daulat Singh Park and unveiled the history of Shimla at famous scandal point on the mall. He gave a clarion call to the people to help keep Shimla neat and clean and restore its old glory. He appealed to the people to impose self discipline and not throw polythene bags in the suburbs of Shimla and also not allow others to do so. He said, if needed the Municipal Corporation, Shimla could consider imposing fine on those who did not cooperate to this effect. Cautioning against the possible water shortage in the town and other parts of the state in future, Prof Dhumal stressed for proper management of water and harvesting of rain water. He said that for Shimla and other major towns of the state, the Government had made a law that no map for construction of buildings without provision of rain water harvesting in Shimla would be approved and added this could be applied to other major towns. The Chief Minister said that to avoid traffic congestion in Shimla town, the Government had given priority to construction of parking places and the town would soon have facility of parking of 4000 vehicles at a time. He directed the Municipal Corporation that all buildings on the mall and its suburbs should give a look of hill architecture and urged citizens to cooperate in this respect. Minister of State for Horticulture Narinder Bragta announced rs one lakh for beautification of Shimla out of his "Vidhayak Vikas Nidhi". (UNI) |
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Kargil Fund collected by State Govt remains unutilized JAIPUR, Feb 1: A major share of the fund collected by the Rajastan Government for helping the families of the Kargil martyrs is still lying unutilized in the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, an official release said here today. Of the total Rs 22.94 crores collected for the Kargil martyrs fund, only Rs 5.94 crores have so far been spent for soldiers welfare, the release said. The amounts came from various sources including public donations of Rs 9.84 crores besides the Rs 11 crores contributed by the State Government employees. (PTI) |
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Rann of Kutch is most
seismically manifested MUMBAI, Feb 1: The devastating earthquake in North Gujarat, which may possibly be one of the deadliest quakes of our times, brought into focus the fact that the Rann of Kutch is the most seismically active region of western India prone to earthquakes. The epicentre of the earthquake, Kutch, was witness to historically one of worst quakes that ever occured in India way back in 1819, and now nearly two centuries later, it once again proved its quake-prone characteristic, experiencing another killer quake of 6.9 intensity on the richter scale, which has caused the largest number of deaths and destruction of property in recent times. But, the reason behind Kutch being quake-prone can be traced to its geographical and geological roots and several external factors, which have led to increased seismic activity over the years. Scientists believe that structural evolutions of the region and various other natural activities greatly influence seismic activity in the region, but they are not very emphatic about the artificial factors, which lead to quakes. Paper presented by Roger Bilham and Vinod Gaur in ‘Seismology 2000’ in November 2000. Tectonic history of Gujarat state begins with the formation of three systems, which includes the Kutch basin. The main structural feature of Kutch basin shows a group of east-west ‘uplifts’ namely the highlands and islands surrounded by residual depression. The islands in rann of kutch show some folds, which may be attributed to compressional forces. "These compressional forces maybe the very tectonic process, which seem to have caused major earthquakes in the Kutch region and which makes it the most severe quake prone zone (Zone V) in India", the paper states. The movement of the Indian plate northwards, is enhanced by the fact that the sea-floor in Arabian sea is expanding, which effects Koyna region in Maharashtra and Kutch region in Gujarat. "One cannot say that nuclear bomb tests can be instrumental for the occurrence of quakes as there is no no evidence for the same", A S Udas of the Indian Meteorological Department, Mumbai said and added that since seismic activity is constantly occurring in the inside the earth, it is hard to reach the depth at which these occur and hence makes it impossible to predict an earthquake. He however, agreed that building of dams affect the seismology of the earth though it is not a scientifically proven fact. Rann of Kutch, according to statistics, has experienced nearly right major quakes since the first in 1819 and each has an intensity ranging from 3.2 to 6.0 on the richter scale. Yet, none of the quakes and tremors has passed the 8.0 mark on the scale, though continuous seismic activity is experienced in the area and most of the quakes go undetected due to their negligible magnitude. The Kutch district hence, with its history and geological character, will be constantly in the quake-prone zone and shares its characteristic with Himalayas, the entire north-east region and man may have to bear the brunt of nature’s fury in different magnitudes over the years. The only way, hence would be to save lives and property through education and proper facilities, which alone can prevent such large scale destruction in future. (UNI) |
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BJP will not abandon its allies: Laxman NEW DELHI, Feb 1: BJP president Bangaru Laxman today said even if the party were to get a majority on its own in lok sabha, it would not abandon its partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). "The party has a membership of three crore and even if we get a clear majority on our own, there is no question of leaving our partners in the NDA," he said inaugurating the two-day meeting of the national executive of BJP Mahila Morcha here. On the Women’s Reservation Bill, he said it was imperative for the Government to give priority to it and evolve a consensus among all political parties instead of bringing it on the last day of every Parliament session. "Something has to be done immediately to bring the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament instead of bringing it on the last day of Parliament," he said adding there was also a need to consider Election Commission’s suggestion on the issue. "The party fully supports reservation for women in whatever form it may be or whatever formula maybe evolved", he said. Laxman appreciated women coming forward in large numbers to work for the party. (PTI) |
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