To understand better and possibly predict earthquakes, the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) has opened its third regional centre in Shillong, a region, which is highly prone to tremors.
The Shillong Geophysical Research Centre (SGRC) was inaugurated by Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan.
Speaking on the occasion Harsh Vardhan said SGRC will emerge as one of its kind in the world in unravelling the earthquake processes and generating a precursor model for earthquake predictions in the years to come.
The minister also assured that the government would extend full support to new initiatives of this kind that will make India a world leader in scientific research.
"The focus of research at this newly formed centre at Shillong would be on deciphering the pre and co-seismic signatures in various atmospheric regions over the North-East using a variety of observational techniques aided by numerical modelling tools.
"Studies to be undertaken at SGRC will contribute to a better understanding of the earthquake sources and their generation mechanisms leading to an improved characterisation of earthquake occurrence and hazards in the North-East and assessment of threats they pose to the local population," a statement by the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
"Any early warning signals emerging from the earthquake preparatory zones that can be detected in the observational tools to be deployed at SGRC will help in mitigating the effects posed by impending earthquakes in this region.
"The ultimate challenge is to develop an earthquake precursor model based on varied observations of the atmospheric and ionospheric response to earthquake occurrence in order to build an Integrated Earthquake Precursory Signal System (IEPSS). SGRC would strive to serve the needs of the NE region as a prominent seat of geophysical research and learning in the NE region," the statement added.
The north-eastern part of India is located at the centre of one of the most active earthquake prone regions of the country and Manipur was the epicenter of a major quake early this year.
IIG is a premier research organisation under Department of Science and Technology and is involved in research on Geomagnetism and allied fields. Its Headquarters is located at New Panvel near Mumbai. It has two Regional Centres and twelve magnetic observatories located across the length and breadth of the country.
