Today I am going to write on 3 established concepts of scientists about Nepal earthquake which are not absolutely correct. These concepts have been further misunderstood by public which caused doubts and fears stay permanently on their mind. Let’s know the reality on time.

1. Nepal is an earthquake prone zone
Nepal has been enlisted in 11th number in the list of earthquake prone area of the world. Lying in the boundary between Indian and Eurasian plates, Nepal is said to fall under earthquake hazardous zones.

But the fact is different. According to the survey, 80% of earthquakes are recorded in the pacific ring of fire zone. 6% is recorded in Alaska. Nepal experiences less than 1% earthquakes of the world.

Photo Credit: worldatlas.com

2. Mega Earthquake is inevitable in Nepal
Nepal, sometimes, is mistakenly believed to be vulnerable to the mega earthquake. Many reports have been published on it. But is mega earthquake really possible in Nepal?

First of all I want to clarify the actual meaning of mega earthquake. Earthquake more than 10 M is mega earthquake{don’t be confused with great earthquake which is more than 8 M}. So far there is no recorded history of mega earthquake in the world. Chile Earthquake 1960 was 9.5 M which is the largest earthquake ever recorded in the world. For the earthquake more than 10 M in Nepal, the fault in the crust should be bigger than the area of Nepal itself. Is it possible? Moreover, there is no more than 8 M {sometime said 8.2 M} earthquake in the recorded earthquake history of Nepal.

3. Earthquake can frequently strike Nepal
As Nepal is experiencing earthquakes time to time {eg. 6.6 in 1988 A.D. and 6.8 in 2011 A.D.}, there is misconception that earthquake can frequently strike Nepal.

I have already said in my previous article that after a big earthquake, it takes long time to accumulate huge energy. Another earthquake larger than 7.8 M {occurred this year} can strike only if this is not Great Earthquake with around the size of 8 M. As 7.8 M is near 8 M, Nepal should wait for another century for such type of huge earthquake.  Because there is about a century gap between 2 Great Earthquakes in the past. Similarly, there is notable time gap for earthquakes more than 6 and 7 M.

This article specially emphasizes that there should never be unnecessary fear of the earthquake that can affect the general life.
Discovered by Don Prince