An accurate system should be developed to issue early earthquake warnings through smartphone app

Earthquake tremors were felt twice in a large geographical area of ​​North India including Delhi during the last week. During this, the earth of Uttarakhand trembled more than three times, but the Uttarakhand Earthquake Alert App did not give an alert even once.

At the time of launch, this app, prepared by the Department of Disaster Management and IIT Roorkee, claimed that it would be able to give early warning of an earthquake so that the loss of life and property could be negligible. Here, when the earth of North India is trembling again and again, then the question of its prediction to avoid earthquakes has come in priority. One of the facts about the news of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis is that they are less shocking to us now.

Wadia's scientists warn

Especially because, despite all the claims, largely since 2015, there has been no major earthquake in North India. It has been warned countless times that there has been a lot of stretch within the land of the hill states, especially from Uttarakhand to Delhi-NCR, and there may be a strong earthquakes anytime. Scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun have warned that a major earthquake can occur in the Himalayan region at any time. Its side effects can be reflected over a large area, so better preparation is necessary to minimize the loss of life and property. The warnings of Wadia's scientists have also been supported by the professors of the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Kanpur.

Reiterating the possibility of a major earthquake in the future, these scientists have said that the collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate is increasing under the earth, due to which a large amount of energy has been stored there and it is never possible for a major explosion. It can come out together which will cause a big earthquake. Scientists from Wadia Institute, who researches earthquakes, have claimed that the Himalayan region from the Hindukush Mountains to Northeast India is extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and also claimed that the respective states do not have effective policies to deal with these hazards. Since no major earthquake has occurred in this area in the recent seven-eight years, the news of this is not creating any big buzz. Whereas everyone knows that there is always a risk of earthquakes ranging from volcanic eruptions to earthquakes due to the geological movements going on inside the earth.

The system of giving prior information is half-completed

About 100 million earthquakes occur on Earth every year, but the number of earthquakes that cause damage is very small. But the warning that our geologists have been saying continuously for the past two decades is that even though no definite date can be given for major earthquakes, the system of giving earthquakes cannot be developed. The big dilemma here is that despite scientific progress, humans are still unable to read the movements inside the earth in advance. The latest example is the failure of the Uttarakhand Earthquake Alert app, which did not alert even once during the recent earthquakes. This app has been prepared jointly by the Department of Disaster Management and IIT Roorkee.

At the time of its launch in August 2021 last year, it was claimed that earthquake early warning would be available through this app. It was told that Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to implement an app for early warning of earthquakes. It was also said about the merits of the app that people who do not have smartphones, will also be able to get early warning of earthquakes on their feature phones and people will be able to manage their rescue in time.

Considering that Uttarakhand has been hit by nearly 700 earthquakes in the last 10 years, this app was expected to be a big hope. But this app could not help on the ground of reality. Difficult forecasting: As far as the geographical location of the Himalayan region of India and the kind of movement within the earth there is always a danger of earthquakes. No matter how important the issue of earthquake warnings is, it is a fact that on the one hand there is no reliable earthquake warning system in India, and on the other hand, even our government has said that there is no effective system in the world. . Certainly no country, organization or scientist is in a position to claim that they can accurately forecast earthquakes and tsunamis. Some incidents related to it have forced people to be more careful about it.

the lessons of the disaster

But the irony is that despite all the efforts, no one can say for sure when, where and how big an earthquake will occur. We get to see a distorted form of the energy waves produced due to underground heat, pressure momentum, and chemical reactions and due to the joining of geological plates, separation from the land, and breaking and cracking, we get to see earthquakes now and then. However, if we want to take a lesson from the earthquakes that come from time to time, it can save us from this disaster to a great extent. For example, a large part of Delhi and NCR falls on the highly sensitive scale (Scale-4) from the point of view of the earthquake. Also, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and the entire Bihar are part of the moving Himalayan Plate. The best way to prevent earthquakes in these situations is to be alert and take preventive measures. Examples of many countries can be given in this context. For example, in Algeria, most of the buildings in schools and residential areas are constructed under seismic building codes. Similarly, Canada has its national building code and their hospitals, schools, and other government-residential buildings are constructed according to this.

In Central America, special arrangements have been made to protect school buildings from danger under the Central America School Retrofitting Program. In Chilean schools, children are given earthquake training three times a year. Under this, there is also a regular mock drill. When an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile on 27 February 2010, schools suffered the least damage because their buildings fully complied with building codes.

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