EARTHQUAKE: NATURAL OR MANMADE?

One gets to know the meaning of earthquakes during school days. The lava within the earth’s crust, eager to splash out, keeps knocking on the earth’s surface. The tremors that are felt on weaker parts of earth are called earthquakes. This is the meaning of earthquake taught in school. Research suggests the need to think upon whether nature is really responsible for such earthquakes. The recent earthquake in Turkey has once again raised the same question. The exact nature and amount of property and lives lost due to the calamity is countless. There are discussions over the technology developed to predict quakes, however scientists have failed to ascertain and declare the exact location and magnitude of such earthquakes.  Though man has failed to predict such calamities, there is enough evidence to suggest that other living beings that are part of the ecology have the ability to forecast such threats. The Journal of Zoology had published a report on frogs in 2010. According to the report, when an earthquake of 6.3 magnitude shook Italy’s L’aquila in 2009, the frogs had left their mating place much before the tremors. This act of the frogs was inexplicable. Thus, it was observed that frogs can predict such quakes in advance. However, man’s reach in this regard is limited. Despite having better knowledge and study of earthquakes, there is no definite example of prediction of the exact time, place and magnitude of earthquakes.  In Japan and California, advances have been made to study rocks to predict earthquakes only moments before they occur. In our country, earthquakes have occurred in Latur and Kutch. Since it was not possible to develop a technology to predict earthquakes, we stressed upon disaster management. This is a remedy considering earthquakes are natural calamities. But one must think whether this is true. Some quakes are of higher magnitude, causing irreparable damage to life and property. The seismology centers across the world record approximately 20,000 tremors every year. It is believed that earth suffers lakhs of tremors every year. Some are of such low magnitude, that they aren’t even recorded.  It is not beyond imagination to think that earthquakes can also be man-made.  An earthquake occurred in Pohang city of South Korea on 15 November 2017.  An area close to the epicenter of the quake was excavated for a project. An estimated loss due to this earthquake was $ 150 million. Until now, that excavation has been blamed for the earthquake. Several kilometers of digging is done to extract fuel. More than ten thousand wells are dug for the search of oil. Geo-thermal energy is used in the process.  Excavation for resources has been increasing day by day. By 2050, such excavations are expected to rise six fold. The earth is damaged in the process of finding oil resources, thus the equilibrium of rocks is disturbed.  There are layers of rock, sand and stone on the earth. But these layers are destroyed while drilling, and thus they lose their energy and strength.   There is enough scope to believe that this process is causing earthquakes. The locals from Maharashtra’s Koyna claimed that construction of a dam in the vicinity increased the number of tremors; the scientists have however not accepted these claims. This is the situation in our country. Surrey in England had not witnessed earthquakes before. But when digging was done for oil and gas, tremors were experienced. The locals objected to digging. There is no specific formula to avoid earthquakes. Digging and excavations will continue to fulfill human interests. Data of tremors arising after such works need to be collected. Thus, possibilities of dangers arising out of such works can be predicted. Now a strict watch is being maintained on tremors recorded across the globe. Even a magnitude of 1 is noted. Thousands of such tremors are recorded worldwide. Lot of care has to be taken while digging deeper into the earth. Humans should listen to the earth’s call and make necessary changes accordingly. Otherwise, such deadly incidents will happen in no time. Isn’t it a lesson we must learn from the Turkey incident?