Delhi’s woes regarding earthquakes continue as another earthquake, albeit mild one, hit the city. Already with an over-strained medical system, the incoming of, as experts say, a mightier earthquakes might add to their Covid-19 troubles.
Crux of the Matter
Recent Earthquakes On Monday, 8th June, an earthquake occurred near Delhi. The epicenter of the earthquake was 13 km from Gurugram and was the 6th earthquake with the same epicenter in the last 10 days. The recent earthquake was the 16th in the Delhi neighborhood in the last 2 months. Fortunately, the tremor occurred 18 km inside the earth, which, combined with the light magnitude, was not felt by citizens and did no damage.
How It Measures? The intensity of earthquakes is commonly measured by the Richter Scale. It is a logarithmic scale, where an increase of 1 point indicates an increase of magnitude by 10.
However, large scale earthquakes are measured in Moment magnitude (MW). Major Upcoming Researchers have claimed that an earthquake of magnitude 8.5+ is imminent in the Delhi region. The experts have pointed to the recurrent earthquakes as a buildup to one major earthquake coming. Delhi region lies in Fault IV seismic zone in India, which is the 2nd most vulnerable region to earthquakes. Its history goes to the time when the Himalayan mountain range formed by the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate. The Himalayan crust is still contorted and makes minor movements to release strain, causing seismic activity in the Delhi region.
A major earthquake from the Central Himalayan foothills is expected … the science tells us that the stresses due to the northward movement of the Indian plate piled up enormously there and it has to be released through a major earthquake or a series of earthquakes. CP Rajendran, Earth scientist, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
Major Earthquakes In Recent Times
2001: 7.7 MW in Gujarat; 20,000+ casualties
2005: 7.6 MW in Kashmir; 87,000+ casualties
2009: 7.5 MW in Andaman & Nicobar Islands; 0 casualties
2015: 7.8 MW in Nepal; ~9,000 casualties
2015: 7.7 MW in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan; 400 casualties
Curiopedia
Charles Francis Richter was an American seismologist and physicist. Richter is most famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, quantified the size of earthquakes. The quote “logarithmic plots are a device of the devil” is attributed to Richter.
The 2001 Gujarat earthquake reached 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale. The earthquake killed around 20,000 people, injured another 167,000, and destroyed nearly 340,000 buildings. Smritivan, a memorial park, and museum dedicated to victims of the earthquake are built on top of Bhujia Hill. 13,823 trees, each dedicated to a victim, were planted in the garden.
A World Bank and United Nations report shows estimates that around 200 million city dwellers in India will be exposed to storms and earthquakes by 2050. Geographical statistics of India show that almost 54% of the land is vulnerable to earthquakes.
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