True, the rapture zones of recent major earthquakes are immune to similar-sized earthquakes. And that too, for hundreds of years. But, scientists fear that they could be vulnerable to even bigger destructive temblors sooner than scientists suspect. This analysis is made by University of Colorado seismologist Roger Bilham. A giant earthquake can rupture through a region. The magnitude 9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake of December 2004 showed this to the scientists.
It reminds of the recent history of quakes with magnitudes as large as 7.9 on the Richter Scale. The Kashmir event released almost 100 times less energy than the Sumatra-Andaman quake in 2004, Bilham said. He blames the poor construction quality in the area, for the deadliest earthquake ever in the Indian subcontinent. Medieval earthquakes beneath the Himalaya may have been larger than any in the past 300 years, Bilham believes. Bilham and his colleagues are trying to determine what governs the recurrence interval and the size of these historically much larger earthquakes.
Via: Physorg