Quake queries
SEVERAL top notch international experts are studying the seismological and other aspects of the recent earthquake in Jabalpur. The experts are particularly examining the field data that have been collected by different agencies such as the Indian Meteorological Department and the Hyderabad-based NationarGeophysical Research Institute following the tremor.
Experts were aware that there was a geological fault in the region, which had largely remained dormant. There was a series of minor tremors in the nearby Khandwa region in November and December 1993. But major quakes like the one with the magnitude of six on the Richter scale that hit Jabalpur and its neighbourhood on May 22, was considered rather rare. The last such tremor in the area occurred 70 years ago.
The experts' survey would reveal whether it was an isolated event or part of a chain of tremors within the country and its neighbourhood including the devastating quake that shook Iran on May 10.