Monday, March 12, 2001		The world of  dot.com

Earth-shaking sites on Web

Quake in Bhuj and quake in Seattle. Those who survived it are spending sleepless nights. A recently detected fissure near Nada Sahib has once again made this less-talked-about tectonic shake-up the talk of the town. People are consulting astrologers, geologists are coming up with their own versions and scientists say that they cannot predict earthquake. Here are some sites dealing with the "natural shake-up"

A comprehensive site on understanding earthquakes, the home page has links to earthquake quiz, rotating globe, famous earthquake accounts, how earthquake occur and history of seismology to 1910. The quiz has four questions (and answers) to test the surferknowledge of earthquakes. The globe rotation at first may be a little choppy, as each image needs to be downloaded. The images on this page show the locations of earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 and larger that occurred over a five-year period. The surfer can also view the gradual buildup of stress that leads to earthquakes. The most interesting part is that the text "Understanding earthquakes" shudders after every few seconds.

www.seismo.unr.edu

This site explains about plate tectonics and the cause of quakes. Globe is listed on the page detailing about the plates and earthquake occurrence in different plate tectonic settings. The page has close-up topographic photographs, courtesy NASA. Related links on the pages delve into Richter magnitude, earthquake effects and intensities. The site also has a list of frequently asked questions by school kids and the general public.

www.imd.ernet.in

A site developed by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has Seismology as a link. The seismology division of the IMD is located in New Delhi. This page has a lot of information on earthquakes. Earthquake terminology, map and list of seismological observatories (both maps and listed) seismic zoning map and seismicity maps, all are listed on site. However, the most visited pages on this site are "List of significant earthquakes in India" and "Significant earthquakes since 1991."