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Showing posts with label earthquake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earthquake. Show all posts

Sep 18, 2011

Bhutan Hit Earthquake

Bhutan Hit by earthquake on 18th September 2011
Magnitude6.1
Date-Time
Location27.346°N, 91.412°E
Depth14 km (8.7 miles) set by location program
RegionBHUTAN
Distances130 km (80 miles) NNW of Gauhati, Assam, India
180 km (110 miles) E of THIMPHU, Bhutan
610 km (380 miles) NNE of Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India
1410 km (870 miles) E of NEW DELHI, Delhi, India
Location Uncertaintyhorizontal +/- 6.2 km (3.9 miles); depth fixed by location program
ParametersNST=137, Nph=137, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.04 sec, Gp= 22°,
M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=A
Source
  • USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event IDus2009lvap
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009lvap.php

Apr 11, 2011

Bhutan: Japanese had long prepared for the disaster

As we sat there following the local news on the television, my Kyrgyz friend, Bolot Kulmatov, and I agreed the Japanese had long prepared for the disaster, such as the one that unfolded with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hitting the north-eastern part of the country.

For example Tokyo, one of the world’s most advanced metropolitan cities, did not have electricity, mobile and telephone services were down, and the temperature continued to dip below zero.

People waited in queues that spilt into the street, as grocers took longer than usual to do business in the flickering candlelight. It took a minimum of five hours to avail one’s turn at the gas station, which the government had started to ration to 20 litres a car.

The advanced and efficient Japan Railways that ferry millions of people everyday was also shut down. Commuters, including students, spent the night at the train stations. Those, who opted for buses and taxis, also had to wait for long hours. The stores in Tokyo had run out of instant food (especially noodles), tissue paper and candles.

Where everything is timed to perfection, and much pride in taken in allowing personal convenience, it was all very un-Japanese. But the Japanese – young and old alike - were as calm, reserved, and polite as ever. There was no panic or sense of urgency. They may have been a little less cheerful.

By the second day, the death toll had risen to 274, with thousands still missing. There had been over 40 aftershocks already, with some measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. To top it all, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis was just beginning.

As the only two occupants of the CNP (café no problemo) or the snack lounge of the International university of Japan in Niigata, 230km northwest of Tokyo, we saluted the nation that was braving, and in such a manner, its worst disaster since WWII.

When the first quake hit the university campus with a magnitude of 6, it lasted close to a minute. We were doing course evaluation before the last class of the international economic systems and order course, when the computer lab swung like it was suspended in the air. Gently, but continuously, the room continued to creak and move.

When I got up to walk out of the room to the open air as the other students, I was giddy and unstable. It felt like I walking across a long suspension bridge that moves with each step, like the ones leading to some villages in Zhemgang district. The aftershocks continued in intervals for the entire three-hour class, and beyond. By then I had a severe headache.

The 6.6 magnitude quake around 4am on the morning of March 13, was entirely different. It was brief, but a very hard jolt. Cupboard doors flew open, things fell on the floor, and it was so violent that I could not get up from the bed. Stunned and shocked, we walked to the gym, as instructed during the orientation.

Some of us were wearing helmets and carrying the flashlight provided to each student. The student support office of the university responded by asking students to keep calm and be safe and in the meantime to stock on instant food, water, and cells for flashlight, and to keep ready passports, documents and warm clothes and in case of earthquake and aftershocks to go to the gym—supposedly the strongest structure on campus. So we went to the gym time and again and, by the third time or so, students looked drained, and very worried.

For me, it was a chilling thought to imagine earthquakes of such magnitude hitting Bhutan. Many students, especially from Asia, agreed that a magnitude of more than 7.5 would flatten their cities.

I wondered whether the ‘duck, cover, hold’ ritual being professed today in schools in Bhutan could actually work.

It works for Japan, because the material used in Japanese structures is entirely different. The foundations of buildings are made of huge steel frames, similar to the ones used in Japan-assisted bridges in Bhutan. Most parts of the buildings have sturdy steel frames filled in with a thin layer of concrete. One can easily punch a hole through the wall that looks like it is made of plaster-of-paris kind of material.

So it is safe to crouch under a table to protect from falling objects in the room, because the steel frames will not cave in on one; and, even if the walls crumble, they will not cause much harm. Japanese structures are so designed that they move with the movement of the earthquake, not against it.

In Bhutan, it is difficult to imagine a table withstanding falling bricks, hollow blocks, or stones. The option would be to run out to an open clearing and pray that the ground below does not cave in.

It would be pragmatic to keep essential items ready at hand like instant food, water, flashlights, ropes, first-aid kit. A rare sight today, fire extinguishers are also very important for every household. Even more important would be knowing how to use it.

It may also be equally important to be concerned about nuclear disasters as we buffer nuclear neighbours. Accidents do happen. When the radiation level in my university, situated 185km away from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant and bordered by a range of mountains, including the famous Hakkai san mountain, fluctuated (but not to the level of causing any health concern), it was evident of the looming danger. For the first time, I followed every word of the weather forecast, and carefully noted the wind direction.

It was for this reason the respective embassies started evacuating students from the university and, by the end of the second week since the disaster, most students had either gone home, or to the south of Japan, as directed by their countries. Plus the ‘CNN effect’ was taking its toll that parents, relatives, and even embassy officials were becoming hysterical.

The ugly side of the open market economy revealed itself, when airlines took advantage and more than doubled the airfare, but even then it was difficult to find a seat.

When I reached Narita airport on the afternoon of March 21, two multi-ethnic lines stretched from one end of the airport to the other. Every passenger flying in from Japan had to undergo a radiation test at Bangkok airport. Back home in Paro airport, the posters hanging from the walls made it clear the issue was still about swine flu and avian flu. But I almost missed the stern warning on tobacco.

Source: kuenselonline

Mar 21, 2011

Bhutan: Some truths to take home

Japan has always been known for being tectonically active.

Preempting disastrous quakes, it prepared relentlessly for years, like no other nations across the world, building seismic resistant structures, as global citizens watched in awe.

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, experts have said, was a result of movement along two major plate boundaries that caused a tremour almost a thousand times more powerful than what Bhutanese in the east experienced about two years ago.

Bhutan too has been warned of being situated on a fault line on the Himalayan range, where a major earthquake, much like the one Japan recently experienced, awaits to occur.

Although the government is educating people on disaster management and demanding strict building rules, geologists say it is high time Bhutan set up its own seismic stations to prepare itself for a disaster that is unpredictable but expected.

Geologist and expert on earthquake engineering Dr Karma Kuenza said, with seismic stations, the nation would know exactly which parts of Bhutan were prone to earthquakes. “If we need to know how Bhutan is behaving to earthquakes, we need to know our local zones,” he said. “We have no information of the sort today.”

Despite support from the government on the need for such stations, lack of budget, as always, stands in the way to implementing the plan.

Building the stations, he said, alone would cost Nu 67M.

“Work is underway and we’ve partnered with some universities and professors in Japan and Germany,” he said. “It should take a few more years for the stations to start running.” Once established, all portable stations placed across the country would be connected to a central system at the headquarters.

“They’ll be automatic, meaning when a major earthquake strikes, they’ll tell you in real time, the magnitude and location, and also record information on any other small earthquakes,” he said.

The 1950 Assam earthquake, Dr Karma Kuenza said, was about 80km away from the nearest Indo-Bhutan border.

“It was about 200km from Trashichhodzong, yet it destroyed a part of the dzong,” he said. “The effect of earthquakes, above magnitude eight, can be felt within a radius of 200km.”

In the last 100 years, about 18 large earthquakes occurred in the Himalayan region. The large earthquakes that were felt in Bhutan include the 1713 Arunachal Pradesh earthquake (M7.0), the 1897 Great Shillong earthquake (M8.3), the 1905 Kangra earthquake (M8.0), the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake (M8.1), the 1947 Assam earthquake (M7.8) and the 1950 Assam earthquake (M8.7).

Bhutan, he said, is divided into two zones by a fault. A fault is a place where earthquakes occur and both Japan and Bhutan are on fault lines.

“We’ve a major fault in Bhutan and so should expect earthquake mostly in the southern belt, because that’s where the earthquake faults are,” he said.

This fault runs more than 2,000km from east to west of Himalayas.

A study by a geologist from the university of Colorado has predicted that the region, where Bhutan is, should expect an earthquake of magnitude of 8, 8.2 or 9.

Dr Karma Kuenza explained that earthquakes occur when the stress built from the continuous movement of plates become too much that they break.

The study said that the Himalayan region is between the Tibetan plate, which is fixed and the Indian plate, which is moving and pushing, 2 cm every year. In 100 years, it would have moved by two metres and in 200 years, four metres.

“And if its four metres of strength accumulation, it will break and the impact of that would give an earthquake of 8 magnitude,” Dr Karma Kuenza said. “But, for the last more than 200 years, even with the four metres of strain, there has been no earthquake in the Himalayan range. And based on the movement and the prediction, we’re actually in a very crucial earthquake prone area.”

Bhutan doesn’t have data to divide itself into zones, safe or prone to earthquakes but based on India, eastern Bhutan falls on zone five and western Bhutan falls on zone four. This means it’s in a zone, where the biggest tremors of an earthquake can be felt.

“That’s why all structures built in Bhutan are built for a big earthquake, with bigger bars and columns and only five storied tall, which are more expensive,” Dr Karma Kuenza said. “And the last earthquake was a national wake up call.”

Like the 1923 quake in Japan, which initiated a massive effort to predict earthquakes and tsunamis. Scientists at Japanese universities received millions to support projects on earthquakes.

Bhutan has at least started.

Source: Kuenselonline

Mar 13, 2011

Bhutan: Earthquake and Tsunami that hit north Japan

His Majesty the King and the Japanese community in Bhutan offer Karmi Tongchey (a thousand Butter lamps) and prayers at the Tashichhodzong yesterday, for the victims of the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami that hit north Japan on Friday.

Source: Kuenselonline