CAUSE OF INDIAN QUAKE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 May 1934, Page 4

CAUSE OF INDIAN QUAKE

“SAFE NOW FOR 100 YEARS.” Geologists have been investigating the recent Indian earthquake, which cost hundreds of lives and did millions of pounds’ worth of damage in the States of Behar and Orissa. They report that it is impossible to bo certain of the cause, but it seems definitely established' that the earthquake was not volcanic. An interesting- theory was put before the Behar Legislative Council in a. speech delivered on behalf of Mr Whitty, a, member of (he Governor’s Executive Council. Air Whitty was unable to attend the Council himself, having been injured in an aeroplane crash while carrying out a survey of India northwards against the Himalayas.

“Various theories have been advanced to account for this pressure. One school of thought, ascribes it to the cooling and contraction of the earth’s crust; another to the gradual denudation of the slopes of the Himalayas, which causes the range to rise in relation to the plain of the Ganges. Whatever the cause, the result is that some great stratum in the earth eventually cracks and causes a violent disturbance on the earth’s surface. PARALLEL IN 1833. “Onco the crack occurs the strain is relieved. A geological vault is formed tar below the surface, and after a number of tremors, due to the process of readjustment, the earth’s surface resumes its apparent stability and tranquillity. “Geologists have expressed the opinion, from the information collected about surface conditions since the shock, that the line where the break occurred in some stratum of the earth must have been somewhere between Sitamahri and Alonghyr. with perhaps another line running through the north of the Darbhangah and Bhagalpur districts towards J’urneah. “We have some records of a similar earthquake in North Bellas in 1.83:;. Apparently this was not nearly so severe, but, if the theory of the cause of earthquakes in this part of India is correct, it relieves the strain for a hundred years. “We can console ourselves with the reflection that the recent shock, which was so much more intense, will give us peace on this portion of the earl h’s surface for an even longer period. “I mention this because 1 think we need the encouragement and hope which it gives to enable us to attack the gigantic task, of reconstruction with a good heart." ■»