Need for evolving disaster-warning mechanism, say researchers

Monday, 20 November 2006, 18:30 IST
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Agra: There is a need for evolving a mechanism for prompt sharing of information on impending quakes and volcanoes in order to prevent the devastating effects of such calamities, said scientists at a seminar on Monday. "More and more people are now accepting the fact that some of the earthquakes and volcanoes can be predicted in advance and preventive measures taken to limit their devastating effects," said researcher Harsh Gupta at the international workshop on electromagnetic studies related to earthquakes and volcanoes which began here Monday. Scientists from Mexico, US, Russia, South Africa, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, China and France are attending the three-day meet. Gupta, former secretary ocean development and ex-director of Geo-Physical Research Institute, Hyderabad, told IANS later: "There is great need for evolving a mechanism for prompt and speedy exchange of information of alarming signals received by laboratories in various regions of the world. Some steps have already been taken in this direction but there still remains a lot of work to be done in this field." According to him: "We normally analyse and study the trends and effects after a quake, we have now to focus on what can be done to predict accurately any disturbances like earthquakes or volcanoes." Three researchers of the India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, - R.S. Dattatrayam, Sant Prasad and A.K. Bhatnagar - in their paper said Indian efforts in this direction had been limited so far, but now the Department of Science and Technology was setting up observatories at selected locations for monitoring all earthquake precursors. The data collected would enable Indian scientists to develop models to forecast earthquakes. Agra interestingly has become a major centre of research in this field. Employing a Global Positioning System Ionospheric Scintillation and Transformer Electronic Control Monitor system, the centre in Bichpuri here is engaged in path breaking researches.
Source: IANS