Early warning sensors can limit damage due to earthquake: Experts

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 14

Three earthquakes were felt in north India over the past week, triggering safety concerns and causing apprehensions about the possibility of more such seismic events in the near future.

According to geological experts, the occurrence of an earthquake cannot be predicted though some early warning can be generated based on seismic sensors monitoring tremors and sounding alert.

Earthquake rocks Amritsar

A mild earthquake hit Amritsar on Monday as reported by the National Centre for Seismology. The Richter scale reading for the incident was 4.1 that went unnoticed as it struck at 4 am.

“Some sensors have been developed that detect seismic waves and trigger emergency procedures such as shutting down the electricity grid, sound evacuation alerts etc, which can reduce or prevent damage to life and property,” say scientists.

“Even a forewarning of a few seconds can be of a big help,” a scientist at the CSIO, which has developed such sensors for the Delhi Metro, said. Though no specific inference can be drawn from back-to-back earthquakes occurring in a region, scientists said, “Tremors are constantly experienced in high-risk zones, although most of them go unnoticed.”

“Seismic devices even in a place like Chandigarh will record several hundred events, but out of these only very few will be classified as a consequential earthquake,” a scientist said.

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