Different studies have suggested that the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand lies in the central seismic gap and may experience a "great earthquake", but no time frame of its occurrence has been specified, the government said today.
"For the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, there are several papers from the Earth Observatory of Singapore, which have suggested that the region lies in central seismic gap and no great earthquake has occurred in the region in past 500 years or so.
"Hence, there is a possibility that this region may experience a great earthquake. However, no time frame of occurrence of such an earthquake has been specified in these studies," Y S Chowdary, Minister of State for Earth Science, said in written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
He said the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun has established an earthquake monitoring network and a multi-parametric geophysical observatory in the region.
