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HP sends Rs 2 cr as PM's relief fund

     New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh has sent Rs. two crores as first installment towards the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund, as contribution for rehabilitation of the sufferers of Tsunami tidal waves which hit the Southern States of the Country on December 26. This was disclosed by the Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh here today. He stated that the state will contribute Rs. five crores towards the noble cause. According to a press relesse, Virbhadra Singh said that in the hour of distress the people of Himachal Pradesh stand by the people who lost their near and dear ones and has suffered loss to the property during Tsunami tragedy. Chief Minister has also thanked the people of the State for responding to his call for contributing this noble cause generously.

Jay Leno auctions a Harley Davidson for tsunami relief (Go To Top)

     London: American chat show host Jay Leno will reportedly do his bit for the Asian Tsunami victims by auctioning a Harley Davidson motorbike signed by stars like Nicole Kidman and Matt LeBlanc. According to Femalefirst, Leno has teamed up with Harley Davidson bosses to raise cash for charity Leno will ask all his upcoming guests to sign the bike before selling if off and handing over all profits to the Red Cross International Disaster Relief program.

Subduction zone, shallow depth made Tsunami quake deadly (Go To Top)

      Washington: The location of the recent earthquake that triggered a deadly tsunami in the Indian Ocean came as no surprise to geologists, says Anne Meltzer, a world-renowned seismologist at Lehigh University. "Earthquakes like this one happen only once every 50 to 100 years and they happen in very specific locations," says Meltzer, who has supervised two major international seismology research projects in the Himalayas. The earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26 occurred along a "subduction zone" where the Indian tectonic plate is being subducted, or pulled beneath, the Burma tectonic platelet, says Meltzer. Earthquakes, volcanos and landslides result when tectonic plates collide, drift apart or slide past each other. Subduction zones, which are caused when tectonic plates collide, produce the most powerful earthquakes, said Meltzer, because they have long continuous fault lines.

     The Sumatra earthquake caused a rupture stretching 1,000 km along the fault line separating the Indian and Burma plates. The effect of the Sumatra earthquake was exacerbated by the fact that the fault rupture occurred only 10 km below the earth's surface, says Meltzer. Had the earthquake occurred at a depth of 100-300 km, its energy would have been attenuated. Scientists cannot predict when an earthquake will strike, says Meltzer, but they have developed technology to warn people to flee ahead of the tsunamis that often trigger an event like the Sumatra earthquake. "An early warning system cannot prevent a tsunami," says Meltzer, "but it certainly would have reduced the loss of life from the recent tsunami."

Tsunami's salt water may render islands uninhabitable (Go To Top)

     London: The salt water from the devastating Asian tsunami of 26 December could have made some of the islands in the Indian Ocean permanently uninhabitable, warn water experts. According to the New Scientist, experts are now warning that, in the long run, the salt invasion could leave some communities dependent on outside aid for food and water for months or years to come. There are widespread reports from across the stricken region that seawater has filled wells, invaded the porous rocks on which communities depend for water, and poisoned soils. "To treat wells properly, the salt water needs to be pumped out and then the wells should be chlorinated to kill contaminants. This should certainly be a top priority." Patrick Fuller of the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute was quoted as saying. Only if the sea water filled wells without contaminating the rocks from which the wells draw their water, then it could be successfully pumped out. But if the sea has penetrated the rocks aquifers themselves, then it may take years or decades for monsoon rains to wash the rocks clean. In Sri Lanka, salt has poisoned thousands of rice farms and plantations of bananas and mangoes. It is already forming a crust on fields as they dry out. "The fields that these people rely on are beyond use for at least another year or two because they have received so much salt water," said Gordon Weiss of UNICEF, the UN children's agency.