Scientists have issued earthquake warnings that there is evidence of increasing strain between the tectonic plates under the largest river delta of the world.
They have estimated that Bangladesh earthquake will affect hundreds of millions of people in the region. The rupture will cause shaking of the earth which will result in great destruction. It will also alter the courses of many rivers.
The earthquake warning is further aggravated by the proximity of the affected area to the sea. Scientist have announced that the threat is a subduction zone which means that it is a place where a section of the earth’s crust is slowing sliding under the other.
The most devastating earthquakes have always occurred along subduction zones including the infamous tsunami and the Indian Ocean earthquake. Both of them resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Until now all the subduction zones were known to be under the ocean, however, what makes Bangladesh earthquake more sinister is the fact that it lies under land multiplying the threat manifolds.
Earthquake warning has come after the researchers found out that the strain between the two tectonic plates has been building for the past four centuries which is the span of historical records that can be relied upon. There have been no mega earthquakes during this period.
The release is inevitable and when it occurs, the earth will likely shake with a magnitude of 8.2. It can even reach 9. This is the maximum magnitude recorded during the most devastating earthquakes in modern history.
A giant plate comprising India and much of the Indian Ocean has been thrusting northeasterly into Asia for tens of millions of years, researchers said.
This collision was the reason for the rise in Himalayas that resulted in the Nepal earthquake last year which claimed thousands of lives. India and Bangladesh are sitting over a landscape where even moderate earthquakes can cause significant losses especially the delta of the Brahmaputra and the Ganges rivers.
The area is actually a great pile of mud that may go as deep as 12 miles. This area is actually covering the subduction zone. When the earthquake occurs, the shaking will be magnified by the substrate. It will also liquefy in several places. As a result all infrastructure including building, roads and even people will be sucked in.
The researchers have announced that the earthquake will be so massive in the area that it will turn the entire Eastern India into a wasteland. The effects of the earthquake will be felt as far as Myanmar and even beyond that.
