Indian disaster management experts warn massive earthquake in himalayan region

Earthquake damage in  Manipur, India, January 4, 2016
(Twitter Photo/@RockyWahengbam)

The disaster management experts at the Ministry of Home Affairs in India have warned of mega earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.2 or greater in north India in near future, much stronger than the one that struck Manipur on Monday.

"The interconnected plates across Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and India pose a bigger danger, and predicted a disaster of bigger magnitude, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) Director Santosh Kumar said Times of India (TOI).

Three recent strong earthquakes have re-ruptured the plates; Magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Nepal-India border in 2011, magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Nepal in April 2015 and magnitude 6.7 recent earthquake in Manipur in January 2016. These have led to conditions which might trigger multiple earthquakes which may go up to 8.0 in magnitude, the disaster management expert warned.

The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) of the MHA has warned that they have assessed greater risk around the "ring of fire garlanding the entire north India especially the mountains"

According to Roger Bilham, the seismologist of University of Colorado and an authority on the subject, "the current conditions might trigger at least four earthquakes greater than 8.0 in magnitude."