(a) whether research is being undertaken for developing a device for forecasting
earthquakes;
(b )if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the proposed seismic monitoring laboratory at Koyna could be the deepest
network of sensors lodged in the earth’s crust that could predict the intensity and
occurrence of earthquakes; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING, MINISTER OF STATEIN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES(SHRI ASHWANI KUMAR)
(a) - (b) Research efforts are initiated under National Program on Earthquake Precursors (NPEP) to monitor and study various earthquake precursory phenomena in critical seismo-tectonic
environments, which possibly would help in understanding the earthquake generation processes
better and lead to identifying possible earthquake precursors. Such an effort is organised
through a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary mechanism to adopt an integrated approach
of generation, assimilation and analyses from a suite of Multi-Parametric Geophysical
Observations (MPGOs), that are being established at Ghuttu (in Uttarakhand), Shillong
(in Meghalaya) and Koyna(in Maharashtra) to monitor various earthquake precursory phenomena..
(c) - (d) No Madam. The sensors in the proposed seismic laboratory in Koyna would be placed
at a depth of 7km and that would not be the deepest in the world. As Koyna earthquakes have
been occurring in a very small rock volume that would be monitored from close vicinity for
possible changes in the rock properties, chemistry of fluids, stress field etc.