Quake sensor for Darjeeling - Advanced seismograph to be installed in Richmond Hill to record vibrations

Mrinalini Sharma, TT, Siliguri, Nov. 7: An advanced seismograph with a range of 10,000km will be set up at Darjeeling’s Richmond Hill to record earthquakes.

Analysis of its data would help experts provide information about the maximum height of buildings that can be built in a quake-prone zone, gradient of terrain at which such structures should be built and material to be used.

A proposal to set up the advanced seismograph or accelograph in Darjeeling was sent to the Union ministry by S.K. Nath, a senior professor of geology and geophysics at IIT Kharagpur, as an extension of the project called Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment in Sikkim Himalayas.

“Eastern Himalayas comprising Sikkim and Darjeeling are prone to earthquakes. We have been working on a project to record vibrations of even very minor intensity in Sikkim for a statistical analysis of the past 15 years. We have set up 14 stations in Sikkim which are constantly recording vibrations. We will install a device at Richmond Hill in the next two months,” Nath told The Telegraph over the phone from Kharagpur today.

The equipment can record vibrations that measure more than three on the Richtar scale.

The Sikkim project was taken up in 1996 and 14 seismograph units have been set up in the state. After the inclusion of Darjeeling, the project would be called Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment in Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas.

Nath is the principal investigator of the project and D.G. Shrestha, the additional director of the Sikkim state council of science and technology, is the co-principal investigator.

“Darjeeling used to have a seismograph earlier. But it is not there for more than five years. Although no big quakes have originated from Darjeeling so far, the place was affected by quakes with epicentres in Sikkim,” Nath said.

The proposal to set up the device in Darjeeling was sent last year after a 6.9 quake hit Sikkim on September 18, 2011. Over 60 people were killed in the earthquake whose epicentre was in north Sikkim’s Mangan. The tremors were felt in neighbouring Darjeeling also.

The total cost of the project is Rs 1.52 crore and the device in Darjeeling would cost around Rs 50 lakh, Nath said.

The data recorded would be sent to IIT Kharagpur.

“We have predicted that Darjeeling and Sikkim can experience quakes of maximum 8.3 magnitude. We can provide information about height of buildings that can be built in an earthquake-prone zone, the gradient of the terrain at which such high rises should be built and construction material that can withstand damage,” said Nath.

Bengal has seismographs in Calcutta and Kharagpur.