Caution, aftershocks expected to continue

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

The epicentre of Nepal’s massive earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, at a depth of 30 km, was monitored at 28.1 degrees north latitude and 84.6 degrees east longitude at Lamjung, around 80 km northwest of Kathmandu. The epicentre of the moderate aftershock, measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale, at a depth of 10 km, was the same as the first one.

It was one of the most destructive earthquakes to hit Nepal in recent years that left a trail of devastation in the Himalayan nation.

While the US Geological Survey has pegged it at 7.9 on the Richter scale, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is holding on to 7.5.

On April 1, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale was felt in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The region is known to have a long seismic history. “The Himalayan regions have the history of earthquakes of high magnitudes,” says Ajit Tyagi, former Director-General of the IMD.

According to experts, aftershocks are expected to continue in the vicinity of the epicentre. Therefore, caution needs to be exercised in the areas that are badly affected, primarily because of the damage caused by the initial earthquake.

According to them, it takes about 100 days for the plates to come to their equilibrium. The material displaced will have to come to its original place and the energy released may cause aftershocks but not of such high magnitude.

Experts say it was predicted for long that such an earthquake will occur because the last one in the region was reported in 1934.

As reports come in of several heritage buildings and temples crumbling, experts have pointed out that often it is not the earthquakes but the buildings that kill.