Why are earthquakes happening again and again in Gujarat?
Sumer Chopra, director general of the Gandhinagar-based Institute of Seismological Research (ISR), explained the cause of the "earthquake swarm" in the Saurashtra area by stating that "tectonic order" and hydraulic load are what cause seasonal seismic activity.
Following the recent devastating earthquake in turkey that claimed the lives of more than 45,000 people, seismic activity is being noticed in Amreli. In january 2001, a strong earthquake in Gujarat's kutch region killed 19,800 people and injured 1.67 lakh others.
Chopra said, Over the past two years and two months, we have observed 400 minor tremors in Amreli, of which 86% had magnitudes under two and 13% had magnitudes between two and three. Only five tremors totaled more than three in strength.
130 years ago there was a strong earthquake in Amreli
According to him, only our machines became aware of most tremors; people were unable to sense them. Most of the Saurashtra region, including Amreli, comes under seismic zone-3, which is a moderate devastation category in terms of risk. Chopra said that the fault line in Amreli is up to 10 kilometres, but for a powerful earthquake, this line should be more than 60-70 kilometres. Chopra said that the highest earthquake of 4.4 magnitudes in Amreli was recorded 130 years ago in 1891. He said that the highest earthquake of 5.1 magnitudes in the Saurashtra region was recorded in the Talala area of the Junagadh district in 2011. He claimed that Saurashtra does not have as many "fault zones" as kutch does.
