Growing concern over the possibility of a major earthquake hitting the central Himalayan region, which includes Uttarakhand state, is being expressed time and again during the deliberations among the earthquake scientists. They believe that a mega quake, measuring above 8 on the Richter scale, might jolt the region any time, leading to unprecedented damages to life and property.

   The earthquake scientists studying the neo-tectonic activities in the central Himalayas, ascribe the phenomenon of increased tremors to the gradual shifting of Asian plate into the Eurasian plate. Scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) in Dehra Dun, put the rate of this gradual onward shifting of this plate at fourteen millimeters per year. They attribute the rise of Himalayas to continental collision of the underground tectonic plates. Scientists now feel that a substantial long time gap has occurred since these high-intensity quakes had struck....