Excelsior Correspondent
KATRA, May 30: School of Innovation & Community Development and School of Physics, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra (J&K) organized a three-day Interdisciplinary Lecture Workshop on “Physics of Earthquakes and Hazard Analysis” from May 27-29, 2014.
The workshop was sponsored by the Joint Science Education panel of the three Science Academies of the country viz Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.
The workshop was focused at training young students and other participants on the fundamentals of earthquake seismology and building awareness to seismic hazard in the region.
Prof. V. K. Gaur, former Secretary, Department of Ocean Development, GoI and fellow of all the science academies was the convener of the workshop. Prof. Gaur emphasized on the need for trained human resource particularly in J&K focused towards studying earthquakes, understanding the hazard it poses and encouraging the masses to emphasize the need for residing in the earthquake resistant structures.
Dr. Supriyo Mitra, IISER, Kolkata and Young Associate, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, who was the co-convener of the workshop, spoke about plate tectonics, earthquakes and its impact on society.
The world renowned earthquake seismologist, Prof. Keith F. Priestley, University of Cambridge, who has spent over four decades in the earthquake seismological research, was the star speaker at the workshop. He spoke about the seismic structure of north western Himalayas and its utility towards the quantification of seismic hazard.
Prof. S. N. Battachrya, Rtd. ADG, Seismology, IMD, GoI introduced the participants to the theory of seismic wave propagation and earthquake source studies. He also conducted a couple of tutorials to give a hands-on exposure to the participants for locating the earthquakes and calculating their magnitude.
The workshop was inaugurated on May 27, 2014 by Prof. Sudhir Kumar Jain, Vice Chancellor, SMVDU, who underscored the need for such initiatives and focused research in this area which is of great significance to the region.
Prof. Jain on the occasion encouraged the participation of SMVDU in more multi-institutional projects for undertaking detailed studies on seismic hazard of J&K. He expressed his happiness over the progress in the ongoing collaboration between SMVDU, IISER Kolkata and University of Cambridge as a part of which 9 seismic stations have already been setup in Jammu region to study the seismic structure and earthquake sources beneath the region.
The workshop was attended by over 100 participants from SMVDU, and few other intuitions such as BITTS Plani, IISER Kolkata, University of Delhi, and University of Jammu etc. The workshop was meant only for the local participants; however participants from other institutions showed lot of interest in the topic and a few of them were selected to join. The workshop was coordinated by Dr. S. K. Wanchoo, Director I/c SICD.
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