Earthquakes on the Chamman and Chiltan Fault Lines in Quetta Pakistan Research Paper

Earthquakes on the Chamman and Chiltan Fault Lines in Quetta Pakistan Specifically in 1935 - Research Paper Example Although there are still several catalogs of earthquakes that exist, the early events were in particular due to some errors, location biasness and incompleteness. Using original sources, it has been confirmed that more than a thousand earthquakes were macro-seismic locations and have assigned the MS magnitudes to the earthquakes since 1892. There have been 34 important earthquakes recorded in this reason of which one of the most significant one took place on 31st May 1935 (Erduran‎ et al., 2012). This earthquake took place at 3am in the middle of the night. It was known as the deadliest earthquake in South Asia. This was the most seismic region of Pakistan at the top of the Chamman and Chiltan fault lines. The earthquake lasted for three minutes but had several immense aftershocks. The tremors of the earthquake were felt a long distance away and the destruction was caused in all the towns near Quetta, the main city, including the city itself. The earthquake had killed 30,000 to 60,000 people in the region. The aftershocks, however, did not cause much damage in Quetta but in the surrounding regions. The scientists have found out the main causes of the earthquakes in Baluchistan from 1892 to 2001 and have analyzed the issues as a wide topic. Most of the research was based on the 1935 earthquake as it is marked as a few of the deadliest ones in the 20th century. The significance of this topic in the lives of the Pakistanis and Asians can be seen through various consequences and analyses made by the scientists. To develop the topic and introduce the issues, it is important to see what type of an earthquake it was actually. The earthquake was, as recorded in the new instruments, 7.7 MW while the previous instruments had recorded 8.1 MW which was a wrongly calculated amount. The epicenter of the earthquake was recorded to be 4.0 km from Ali Jaan, a town in Quetta. The focal depth of the earthquake was 17kms ?(Ambraseys & Bilham, 2003). ? According to the scientists these earthquakes took place in Baluchistan because of the fault lines in the region. It happened due to the two blocks of earth suddenly colliding past one another. The earthquake of 1935 is recorded to have no foreshocks which are the movements felt before the earthquake happened. Records show that there were no such claims. However, it is true that scientists cannot tell whether it is a foreshock before the main earthquake happens, but after the earthquake occurred in 1935, it was held that there were no foreshocks experienced. Even though there were no foreshocks, the earthquake had some unusual events recorded prior to the earthquake. It is true that scientists have not yet found a way in which the earthquakes can be predicted, yet they can analyze how and when they are most likely to occur in future. Quetta is said to be hit by the 1935 quake again in the near future however, the time can never be accurately told. The unusual events that scientists recorded before the earthquake were unusual bright lights, flashes of lights in the mountains, landslides, dust clouds and rock falls. Unusual event s seem to be unjustified even after many years of research as the scientists say that earthquakes have very less to do with the weather changes. They cannot be predicted by any machines or instruments. They shake the earth’s surface because of the collision of faults. The Quetta earthquake was also a sudden event where hundreds of people were buried under the rubble because it was 3am in the morning and most of them were not awake to assess the emergency. The significance and further details of the earthquake are discussed later. However, this earthquake holds immense significance as it