The months of May and June have seen India’s neighbourhood record more frequent earthquakes that within the country.
The quakes were spread out wide over Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, China, the Hindu Kush (Afghanistan) and Pakistan.
35 IN TWO MONTHS
The two months saw 35 quakes of a magnitude above 4.5 (M4.5) on the Richter scale being recorded across the region.
Of this, nine were in India, mostly concentrated around the seismically vulnerable region of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the odd ones in Assam and Gujarat.
China and Afghanistan regions accounted for four each while Indonesia, among the most seismically active regions in the world, recorded 10.
Taiwan, Nepal and Pakistan were the odd ones with one recorded episode each during the two months under reference.
The most intense of the 35 quakes was the M6.3 recorded in Northern Xinjiang, China, on June 29.
INTENSITY
Of the 35, as many as 17 were of intensity of M5.5 and above, according to India Meteorological Department and US Geological Survey data.
Seismic experts are of the view that the pattern of ground movements around the contiguous neighbourhood needs to be monitored for assessing India’s own seismic vulnerabilities.
More than the quakes, it would be the structures built with scant attention to approved building codes that could prove real killers in the region, they have warned.