ISLAMABAD: The Director General of Pakistan Geological Survey, Dr Imran Ahmed Khan says an earthquake of a magnitude of 6.5 or higher might hit Pakistan this year, Express News reported on Monday.
Dr Khan, who was briefing the Standing Committee on Petroleum, said major cities of Pakistan were located on the fault line, which also crosses the centre of Margalla Hills.
The director general said the list of cities under threat has been handed over to the respective district governments.
He added that the government had been informed of the Attabad landslide four months before the incident happened.
He further that that climatic change is melting glaciers at a faster rate.
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I felt that its time ... due time for earthquake .... with my experience and it happened....i have an extra sense, i feel....it means that earthquake is little bit predictable....but every thing comes from heavens...because of our own deeds....yeh insan ke apnay hath ki kamai hy....
No one knows the future but as a nation we have to prepare ourselves for any emergency to deal with the rest leave to ALLAH PAK and pray because it changes the futures.
An earthquake prediction is a prediction that an earthquake of a specific magnitude will occur in a particular place at a particular time (or ranges thereof). Despite considerable research efforts by seismologists, scientifically reproducible predictions cannot yet be made to a specific day or month. However, for well-understood faults the probability that a segment may rupture during the next few decades can be estimated.
dont worry.... for the future... just wait and watch...
plz tell me..is it true?? Earth Quake of 8.6 can Hit Pakistan in 2015 or before.
@Chris Cork......"UnderCover"
The NatGeo camera, I am reliably informed is sited 'off slide' in an area that is not going to move. As to whether I am a famous undercover agent in a Hollywood movie...not as far as I am aware. What film did you have in mind?
@ Chris Cork.. I've got only one question.. What will happen to the camera installed by the National Geographic Society in case there is a landslide ??
We all know that the fault line runs through various parts of pakistan and with the pressure build up the earthquake can strike. Let us not worry of when. We should be concerned to be prepared to mitigate the impact and specially casualties. We need to build right and be prepared and trained on how to respond in case such a disatser strikes.
It is nearly impossible to predict exact time and place of earthquake.
Great earthquakes in the Himalaya have occurred repeatedly in the past and will continue to do so in the future. We do not know precisely when and where they will occur although in several locations one can calculate how much elastic energy is currently stored ready to drive a future earthquake.
Northern parts of Pakistan and Baluchistan are located in seismically very active area and government should get serious about earthquake mitigation.
There are some large NGOs in Pakistan which solely focus on disaster mitigation one of them being FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance which is part of AKDN.They did excellent work during the Attabad landslide and had also set-up Early Warning System.
NDMA should request FOCUS and other International agencies to help them
Scientists can predict that a big earthquake will hit a particular area/city (Such as Istanbul) they can even detect a pattern (every few years there was an earthquake in a different turkish city going from east to west and the pattern predicts it will eventually hit Istanbul). What thay cannot predict is the precise time, but they can predict a rough time estimate.
Geology and science has moved on a great deal.The govt. should take his advice and make as many places earthquake proof as possible and also have emergency staff trained for an event such as this. Our country lies on a fault line so we should make preparations for these events as they will happen at some point!
So far no commentator has called it a conspiracy against Pakistan by CIA, RAW and MOSSAD..Thank you ET readers.
Its true that landslides can be predicted well ahead of time. However, the probability of an earthquake occuring in a certain area of a certain magnitude can also be predicted. What cannot be predicted about earthquakes is when it will happen. may happen in one year or many years. May occur in form of many small earthquakes or a big one as 8th Oct as the faultlines shift.
Where will the government go....??????????
Attention All;
Japan being a great country on Technological advancements perspective was not able to predict the recent earthquake.There has been no invention to predict earthquake to precisely predict the earthquake.
Pakistan is already going through managerial crisis and authorities have put themselves in ridiculous position with many matters such as War on Terror, Corruption,Target killing and poor law in order situation.
The situation is getting from bad to worst and this news is another example of religiousness and irresponsibility by pressurizing and harassing people.Indeed the natural disasters come and go but one has to take precautionary measures and proactively manage things on red signals.Authorities have nothing to do with the same e.g Recovery from recent earthquake and flood hasnot been made yet then why authorities are harassing innocent people with such news.
People being muslims should pray to Allah for safeguarding our country and people for such disasters as we donot have capacity to bear them anymore.
Authorities should stop spreading such news and make smpathy on the people of the country who are already under pressure and striving to live in this era of heavy taxes,inflation and tough situation.
Well, if a scientist says that, it might happen...any time...
Attention All Pakistanis:
There has not been invented such a device so far for predicting earthquake.Japan # 1 country in Technological Advancement was not able to do so.
The country is going through the management crisis Power Shortages ,Decreasing Revenues , Heavy Corruption etc etc.
This is another example of irresponsibility that instead of taking precautionary measures/steps , News about earthquake have been blown to fear and harass peolpe of the country.
I would like to request everyone going through , my message is to show full faith in Allah and Quran and pray to him to safeguard our country from all kinds of natural disasters such as earthquake,flood etc because we have no more capacity to be examined anymore.
Earthquakes may not be predicted but the presence of certain geological features increases the chances of earthquake. One such major feature is a fault line.
He may be right because he did not basically predict an earth quack...He is just saying that major cities of Pakistan are on fault line especially Margalla hills ......so we cannot say he is wrong because we have already faced a major earth quack
Ha ha , it like saying you will die one day?
I think he is throwing something in the air, so that if at all that happens, he can take credit for it. I also would like him to publish a paper and send it to Nobel price committee so that they could consider him for the next year Nobel prize on Geology.
In answer to various questions...no the latent slide I saw is on the other side of the river to KKH and even though it will be massive I cannot see it blocking the road. What few people lived on or beneath the slide slope moved long ago so I think large loss of life is unlikely. I do not know the name of the actual area that will slide, but it is opposite Rakaposhi View Point which is a popular stopping point for buses trucks and tourists and is about 10 mins from the turn-off for Minapin.
May ALLAH forgive our sins and bad deeds and protect Pakistan...Ameen May our ALLAH ALMIGHTY protect all of us from such kind of circumstances... Ameen, Sum Ameen
Never heard of prediction date for an earthquake given by any geologist so far but Dr Khan might have got a direct communication from HIM for this unusual prediction. God bless both India and Pakistan.
@Chris Cork: regarding the other land slide about which u mentioned the installation of camera, what will happen if that landslide takes place.will there be any water deprivation or human life loss?can the aftermath of such landslide be utilized for the advantage of humans ?
Run!!!!!! :D
dumb heads they can certainly predict earthquakes by measuring the tension building up in the fault lines!!when the tension becomes so great it is dissipated in the form of energy!!!he is probably saying that the tension is building up in the south asian tectonic plate which is moving up in collision course with the euroasian plate!!the south asian plate mves underneath the euroasian plate at a rate of 1cm per year!!this is accumulated as tension
Note to sane readers: Anyone who says that it is not possible to ascertain that there is a relatively high possibility of an earthquake to occur at a certain place during a certain timeframe has never been a student of geology or geophysics.
@Chris Cork: Where exactly on the KKH would the landslide take place? Will it block the KKH?
Gentlemen , just check out HAARP Project on any search engine or youtube and you will get to know amazing facts.
Please post it as it may be useful for Pakistanis
Yes, it is till there and unlikely to fall down or see significant erosion because the spillway constructed by the army and FWO takes sufficient pressure OFF the dam to make it unlikely it will spontaneously collapse. While I was up there I heard of plans to reduce the level of the lake by fifty feet and re-expose the road and the newly-built Chinese bridge, which would obviate the need to build a new road around the block. It makes good sense but it is not going to be an 'instant solution.'
What about forecasts about Attabad Lake by FWO and other Experts "this dam will not resist the water pressure and will be washed away". THE DAM IS STILL THERE.
Earthquakes no, not possible but landslides yes, especially those of the type that formed the Attabad lake. Local people had been observing the spread of cracks along the already well-known Attabad fault line for years, and they had been noted by a university dpt in the UK which has a geologist specialising in the mechanics of landslides - and he and the local government rightly predicted the Attabad event. There are two other similar events in the offing, one of which I have observed at close quarters in the last fortnight. It is on the other side of the river directly across from the Rakaposhi Viewpoint on the Karakorum Highway. Thro binoculars I was able to observe the slippage that had occurred since my last visit in 2009, and it is clear that the slope is critical, moving downwards and will eventually drop into the river with the same effect as at Attabad. The National Geographic Society have put a camera up there to monitor the situation. Gonna be a biggie when it goes, which will probably be the next time it either has significant rain on it or it goes thro a freeze-thaw cycle (as at Aattabad). So earthquakes no, slides very definitely yes.
what hapening is not a earth quak may be just quak quak.
may be because he is the DG of Pakistan Gelogical Survey.....Geology (from the Greek γῆ, gê, "earth" and λόγος, logos, "study") is the science that comprises the study of the solid Earth and the processes by which it is shaped and changed. (Wikipedia)
I really didn't know that they could predict earthquakes for the whole year. This is very interesting!
his is ridiculous as of now there is no technology or technique exist in the world which may predict expected earth quake! scientist and geologist have done many experiments but apparently all were failure.... however may God keep us safe!
Very disturbing indeed. May Allah save us ad forgive us for our sins
Haan! How can he predict earthquakes!! And how can he predict landslides four months before it happens? He must be strong with the darkside!