Quake moves Nepal closer to India: Experts

Saturday’s devastating earthquake in Nepal, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, has shifted the earth beneath its capital Kathmandu by up to several metres south, but the height of Mount Everest has likely stayed the same, experts said on Tuesday. According to experts, the ground beneath Kathmandu may have moved about 10 feet southward. This took place within 30 seconds of the quake.

Scientists of Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology said this on the basis of satellite studies conducted by US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). According to scientists, the Indian plate is inexorably sliding, in a halting, ground-shaking fashion, northward, beneath the much larger Eurasian plate. The process has created the lofty Tibetan plateau and pushed up mountains that reach nearly 30,000 feet above the sea level. The Himalayan front can produce earthquakes that are much more powerful than Saturday’s – such as the 8.2-magnitude quake that hit Nepal in 1934.

This convergence also resulted in the release of 79 lakh tonne of TNT energy, which tilted the earth’s axis. The energy generated in Nepal’s earthquake was 504.4 times more than that atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945. The fault lies between two tectonic plates – one bearing India pushing northward into a plate carrying Europe and Asia at a rate of about 2cm (0.8 inches) each year – the process that created the Himalayas.

Senior Scientist Sushil Kumar of Wadia Institute said after studying the earthquake-hit regions of Nepal, NASA reported about the shifting of Kathmandu by 10 feet. He added that even the Colorado University has confirmed the report of earth shifting 10 feet from its axis. While Kathmandu may have moved, it is unlikely that the height of Mount Everest was affected, said Kumar, referring to some other international findings on the quake.

He said the Wadia Institute will soon install 15 seismographs and accelographs at several places in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh with connectivity of V-set, to study such seismic movements. One instrument can cover an area of 100 sq km. Once installed, the 15 instruments will capture all details of an earthquake striking within 1,500 sq km area.