Coimbatore: The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) under the Union ministry of earth sciences has installed a new seismic monitoring observatory on Bharathiar University premises in the city.
Dr Ambikapathy Ammani, a scientist with NCS, said they had installed a three-component digital seismometer to detect and record earthquakes in Coimbatore, Villupuram, Thanjavur and Thoothukudi districts in coordination with the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management in October this year.
"The real-time earthquake data from these seismometers is being received at the headquarters of NCS in New Delhi through modem/very small aperture terminal (VSAT)," he said.
He said the new devices were installed in the seismic zones II and III. Coimbatore falls under seismic zone III. The newly installed devices could record local and regional earthquakes of varying magnitudes around 3.0 worldwide. They could detect earthquakes for a range of more than 2,000 kilometres, he said.
"Once the NCS receives the real-time earthquake reports from its seismic monitoring observatories, the earthquake signals get analysed, and several parameters of earthquakes are determined by the NCS scientists, who will immediately alert different stakeholders in the country, including the respective state disaster management authorities," he said.
NCS seismic observatories have been functioning in Chennai, Kodaikanal and Salem districts for more than a decade. The National Centre for Seismology maintains a national seismological network, currently with 166 stations, each having state-of-the-art equipment.
The Union ministry of earth sciences has identified Coimbatore for a seismic hazard assessment study named ‘Seismic Hazard Microzonation'. The city was already investigated by NCS as per the standard operating procedures of conducting seismic microzonation hazard estimates of seismological, geological, geophysical and geotechnical parameters.
According to sources, the report is ready for release, which could happen soon. The report will be published in the public domain.
Tamil Nadu state disaster management officials said there was a plan to install the device on the district collectorate campus. "The railway junction is located near the collectorate and trains often create vibrations, affecting the seismometer. So, the device was fixed on the Bharathiar University premises," one of the officials said.