'Scientists must predict earthquakes'

President A P J Abdul Kalam urged scientists to contribute in predicting earthquakes on land and sea beds.

"As you are aware, the coastal region of our country faced a severe calamity due to shock embedded tidal wave, which will need an innovative package for reconstruction of homes of the affected population," Kalam said at the 92nd session of the Indian Science Congress in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

"The scientists present here, have to ask yourselves what you can do in such a situation for bringing relief to the people and also what science can do to prevent such devastating occurrences in future. They can definitely contribute in the areas of prediction of earthquake on land and seabed."

On prediction research, Kalam said: "The seismologists have put most of their efforts in studying seismic variations and patterns of foreshocks and aftershocks. In certain countries, earthquakes have been successfully predicted using a noticeable increase in background seismic activities.

If foreshocks can be recognized early, giving a timely warning can save lives of many people."

The stages of a rising seismic activity include, building up of elastic strain along a fault, development of cracks, increase in stress, decrease in electrical resistivity etc. This theoretical series of events could eventually lead to a way to predict the occurrence of major earthquakes.

"The events are still theoretical and need much more data to make them useful enough for practical applications," he felt.