The Hindu Business Line : Read Nature's fury

With the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, launching a Mission Mode Project on Seismology in the 10th Plan, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) is introducing a two-year M. Tech Programme in Computational Seismology.

The course will train participants to interpret the vast pool of digital data accumulated in recent years by various institutions on seismic activity.

This will be done through mathematical analysis and computer simulation.

This will help in mitigating the adverse impact of earthquakes and related hazards. The course will also focus on research pertaining to oil prospecting.

Says Prof Sankar Kumar Nath, Head of the Department of Geology & Geophysics at IIT-KGP, "Current developments in theoretical seismology, in data analysis using a wide range of computational methods, necessitate manpower development in the subject.

The objective of the course is to develop an academic environment for training and research in seismology and geophysical studies. This will address problems pertaining to the mitigation of earthquake and related hazards and oil prospecting".

Course participants will be able to use seismic instruments from Cambridge University.

Every year, the course will turn out 15 people equipped with knowledge of the physics and mathematics of earthquakes and geophysical phenomenon.

Of these, 10 will be selected through a written test, from industry, research organisations and academic institutions, and the remaining five through the Graduate Aptitude Test.

Candidates who have qualified for Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, University Grants Commission and the National Examination for Technical Studies are also eligible for admission.

Prof Nath says India is divided into 86 seismic zones and the entire Indian continent is `seismically vulnerable.'

Over the last few years, large volumes of digital data of earthquake ground motion from seismic events are being acquired through already-commissioned seismological laboratories in the country.

This data can be used to evaluate the status and dynamics of wave propagation and dynamics of the source, 3-D structure and site response to calculate earthquake hazards.

"High-quality scientific and technological manpower is needed to interpret these datasets using sophisticated processing techniques", says Prof Nath.

The course, in the wake of the recent Tsunami devastation, will help bridge the knowledge gap of earthquake scientists, he says.

A laboratory has been created with computational facilities and teaching/research materials.

A broadband seismological observatory is operational at IIT-KGP.

An array of 12 strong motion accelerographs is being operated in Sikkim Himalaya.

Two broadband stations have also been commissioned in the region.

Prof Nath says "We have about 100 broadband laboratories where data is being collected but unfortunately it cannot be processed owing to the absence of the appropriate kind of knowledge base."

With the introduction of this course, this problem will, hopefully, become a thing of the past.

ambar_singhroy@rediffmail.com

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