Earthquake warning system to get better, promises Centre

The ambitious ‘Deep Scientific Drilling into Earthquake of Koyna-Warna Region’ project, of MoES, will start from October 2015 and the installation of two of the boreholes will be completed before the monsoon season begins in 2016.

The ambitious ‘Deep Scientific Drilling into Earthquake of Koyna-Warna Region’ project, of ministry of earth sciences (MoES), which includes drilling 10 boreholes up to 7km deep below the earth to study and predict earthquakes, will start from October 2015 and the installation of two of the boreholes will be completed before the monsoon season begins in 2016.

Shailesh Nayak, secretary, MoES was speaking to HT on Tuesday at the 102nd Indian Science Congress. Nayak said, “Out of the 10 boreholes to be drilled during the project, we have identified sites for two. Their installation will be completed around May 2016. After that, we will get better material for the study and alerts to predict and research earthquakes through the seismometers deployed in the boreholes. We could not get it before through the other systems placed above the earth.”

The project, however, got a nod from the Centre, which cleared a proposal with a total cost of Rs472 crore in November.

While talking at a session on disaster management, Nayak said it is difficult to predict earthquakes in advance because our knowledge of earthquake physics is poor. However, deep drilling in the earthquake-prone zone can give better a understanding of physical and chemical changes in the earth, helping predict earthquakes more accurately.