8.2 or bigger quake coming, warn Indian experts
The Union home ministrys disaster management experts have warned of a bigger catastrophe, earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.2 or greater on the Richter scale which may hit the already ruptured Himalayan region, reports The Times of India.
They say quakes with higher intensity than the one that struck Manipur on Monday are likely to rock the region in future. The tectonic shift a series of these recent earthquakes have caused in the regionManipur 6.7 (Jan 2016), Nepal 7.3 (May 2015) and Sikkim 6.9 (2011) -- have re-ruptured the plates that had already developed cracks during previous temblors. This has led to conditions which might trigger multiple earthquakes which may go up to 8.0 in magnitude.
The experts comments came two-day after the 6.7-magnitude earthquake that shook Manipur state in India collapsing buildings and causing at least 10 deaths. Three people were reported dead in Bangladesh.
The quake occurred early Monday about 18 miles west of Imphal, the state capital, around 4:35 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey. Strong tremors were felt in Chinas Tibet region, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Burma.
In a post-Nepal disaster assessment, the MHAs National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) has warned of enhanced risk around the ring of fire garlanding the entire north India especially the mountains. This was also highlighted at a recent meeting organised by the Centre in Arunachal Pradeshs capital Itanagar where policy-makers from 11 hill states had participated and resolved to develop a common building code for mountains.
Speaking to TOI, NIDM director Santosh Kumar said the interconnected plates across Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and India pose a bigger danger, and predicted a disaster of bigger magnitude that awaits hill states and parts of Bihar, UP and even Delhi which fall under the second worst seismic Zone IV classification. The North-East and other hill states fall under severe seismic Zone V.
