Earthquake in India

Many scientists believe that a huge earthquake is due soon in Himalayas. They expect at least one of 8.1 to 8.3 M—though seven such quakes are overdue.

The valleys flooded to form the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. Getting off the Taurus Mountains, we drove into a sea of greenery. As embattled now as when the Romans fought the Persians here, Diyarbakir has been the hotbed of Kurdish nationalism. The descent from the mountains was long and arduous. Turning left on A975 to Van, the rollercoaster highway cut through a range of mountains. We descended slowly into the fractured bowl, driving on a raised road above a flooded river of white snow and solidified black lava. Turkey’s most worrying crack is the North Anatolian Fault that runs beneath the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul, threatening to rupture sooner than later. The haunting sense of isolation, loneliness and remoteness was entirely satisfying. Spires and pitted cliffs rose from the white carpet of deep snow. There was a deep hush all around with not the faintest breath of wind, nor stir of grass. Along the way, the scientists would exchange knowledge on past earthquakes and ongoing seismicity with scientists of 30 universities and research institutions, thereby, furthering their understanding of the earthquake geology. Traversing Iran from South to the North, the expedition Scorpios zipped on the highway through the Zagros Mountains, folded and faulted beyond repair.