“Yes, Chief. An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck Manipur!”

Something lured me back to April 2015.

The first terror of the month I saw was MSN screaming “Earthquake of 7.8 hit Nepal; Shock felt in Delhi and North India!”

I called my friend and assured that he was safe.

I met Shanmu Uncle that night and he said that he believe an impending tremor may hit North India in near future.

“What do you thing earthquakes are?”

“Our Earth is not a giant lump of rock as it looks. It is like hot, molten core bubbling away inside a surprisingly thin outer crust and the outer crust can be divided into tectonic plates that move. When two tectonic plates collide, earthquakes are formed.”

“When the jagged edges of two tectonic plates grind against one another a fault line or a zone arises. Most earthquakes arise along such fault zones. The ground first bends and then snaps—an earthquake—to release energy along faults.”

“It starts at a point inside Earth called the focus where the moving plates are in contact, then travels through the ground as very low-frequency sounds called shock waves or seismic waves. The greatest damage happens at the epicenter, which is the point on Earth’s surface above the focus. Earthquakes continue until all the energy released at the focus has been safely dissipated. Even then, there’s still a chance that further earthquakes, known as aftershocks, will happen for some hours or even days afterward. And what happened in Nepal was the same. A major quake followed by several aftershocks.”

“But, those tremors would have relieved the energy? Why do you think a major one would occur?”

“As of now, I am uncertain. But some experts say that the energy was not completely dissipated. They still believe that it has just caused re-rupturing of the Himalayan plate.”

——-

Jan 6, 2016

Despite being third in FB trends, it was the first one to catch my eye.

In a post-Nepal disaster assessment, the MHA’s National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) has warned of increased risk around the “ring of fire garlanding the entire north India especially the mountains”.

Again, at Shanmu Uncle’s House,

“The ministry believes that the tectonic shift caused by a series of these recent earthquakes in the region [Manipur 6.7 (Jan 2016), Nepal 7.3 (May 2015) and Sikkim 6.9 (2011)] might have re-ruptured the plates that had already developed cracks during previous tremors thereby leading to conditions that might trigger multiple, if not, at least 4 earthquakes which may go up to 8.0 in magnitude. And unfortunately, since ritcher scale is logarithmic, not a linear one as many believe, this might leave hit not only the states, which fall under the severe seismic Zone V*, but also Delhi, which is classified under the less severe seismic Zone IV* in severe danger !”

“Is there anything the government could do about this?”

“The Government is trying to reduce the damage that these earthquakes would cause. This was also highlighted at a recent meeting organized by the Centre in Arunachal Pradesh’s capital Itanagar where policy-makers from 11 hill states had participated and resolved to develop a common building code for mountains.”

————————————————-

Written by S G A Thomas.

*Foot note 1:

* India is divided into four seismic zones. The most active Zone V comprises of the whole of north-east, parts of north Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Delhi comes under Zone IV and is considered as one of the high-risk areas. To Know more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_zones_of_India

The post Are we in for a series of earthquakes? appeared first on OutFocus.

Given his simplicity, many would still think Shanmu Uncle is an outdated person. But only his closest circle would knew how updated he is.

I had always wondered how updated he is. He has a PC at his house, but rarely saw him using it.

—–

I remembered him quoting

“Newspaper publishers in developing markets are living on borrowed time.”

—-

“I think Internet is the decline of Newspapers.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“But Uncle, don’t you think that there are lot of misinformation and rumors being spread across the internet?”

“Point Agreed.”

Looks like Uncle seems to be less interested.

“Actually, I was wondering how come you are so updated ?”

“Ok. Why do you say that Internet has declined the Print growth ?”

“Well, With exponential growth of Technologies, there is an increasing number of people who could afford at least a smartphone and also have an  affordable access to internet. With the help of APPS and RSS feed, one could get instant flash news from the web. Who would want to have Yesterday’s news when they could get Instant News within a button’s click ?”

“But most of the leading newspaper have their own websites, mobile apps and have millions of followers on Facebook. The Local Newspapers could reach a wide diaspora. You still think Internet has declined Newspapers growth. I don’t think so.”

“Are you suggesting that Newspaper would still survive?”

“Not exactly. But all I am suggesting is that it wouldn’t disappear overnight. The challenge for newspaper publishers is figuring out how to use the Web to make up for the decline in print revenue. No-one has got the model right yet. Paid subscription models don’t work as people have become accustomed to getting their news free. And advertising is not making up the shortfall. For many millions of people, especially those born before 1980, the thought of replacing a newspaper with an electronic gadget or a computer screen does not sit well. But to younger people as comfortable online as they are offline, buying a newspaper is almost a foreign concept. Young people are shunning newspapers and that, ultimately, will lead to their demise. It might take 15 or 20 years, but it will happen.”

“So, How come you are so updated?”

“I think, it might be because of my profession. Being a professor, it is always necessary not only to update yourself but also to have a constant touch with the students. Just like your newsfeed which narrows down your interests automatically, I would narrow down my interests and search accordingly. If it is important to me, I always have worked out a way to find it.”

“What about the misinformation? Do you think that the spreading of rumors has increased with the Internet?”

“Rumors always exist. Yes, Internet is one of the primary medium for instant spreading of rumors but it is also the one that connects millions of people within seconds. And the best example is happening right now … #ChennaiRainsHelp”

————-

Written by S G A Thomas

The post Has the internet pinged the death of the newspaper? Ask Shanmu Uncle. appeared first on OutFocus.

Ganesh sent me a link. Opened it. AND it read BERMUDA TRIANGLE: SHIP REAPPEARS 90 YEARS AFTER GOING MISSING.

Phoned Shanmu Uncle. He told that he was about to call me for the same reason.

Reminded me of one of our previous conversations.

———-

“The very first problem of Bermuda triangle lies with defining it..”

“Defining it? I heard that it is an area in the Atlantic Ocean bounded by imaginary lines that run from Bermuda down to Puerto Rico, over to southeast Florida, and back up to Bermuda.”

“Area? Well define that area. Give me the coordinates. Though rough estimates states that it is around 500000 square miles, some of the events that has been linked to Bermuda Triangle had actually happened outside the proposed one! To include more disasters, Bermuda Triangle proponents have at times extended the region to a much larger area of the Atlantic known as the Limbo of the Lost. This area is shaped like a dented trapezium, and extends west to include the Gulf of Mexico, north to New Jersey, and northeast to the Azores!”

“Oh …”

“And any idea on who was the first to witness Devil’s Triangle’s DARK SIDE?”

“No”

“Come on…. This is an obvious one !!”

“Columbus?”

“Yes. The Bermuda Triangle’s bad reputation started with Christopher Columbus. According to his log, on October 8, 1492, Columbus looked down at his compass and noticed that it was giving weird readings. He didn’t alert his crew at first, because having a compass that didn’t point to magnetic north may have sent the already on edge crew into a panic. He also reported that a great flame of fire, probably a meteor, crashed into the sea one night and that a strange light appeared in the distance a few weeks later.”

“But the modern legends says that ships entering Bermuda triangle would disappear.”

“Well. The modern Bermuda Triangle legend didn’t get started until 1950 when an article written by Edward Van Winkle Jones was published by the Associated Press. Jones reported several incidences of disappearing ships and planes in the Bermuda Triangle, including five US Navy torpedo bombers that vanished on December 5, 1945, and the commercial airliners “Star Tiger” and “Star Ariel” which disappeared on January 30, 1948 and January 17, 1949 respectively. All told, about 135 individuals were unaccounted for, and they all went missing around the Bermuda Triangle. As Jones said, “they were swallowed without a trace.” While there was merely less public interest on this subject initially, even after the 1955 book, The Case for the UFO, by M. K. Jessup that started pointing fingers at alien life forms.  “

“By 1964, Vincent H. Gaddis, who coined the term “Bermuda Triangle”, wrote an article saying over 1000 lives had been claimed by the area. He also agreed that it was a “pattern of strange events.” The Bermuda Triangle obsession hit its peak in the early 1970s with the publication of several paperback books about the topic, including the bestseller by Charles Berlitz, The Bermuda Triangle.”

“So what happens to Ships that entered Bermuda Triangle? I mean how did they disappear ?”

“Actually there are several reasons to give. In 1975, Lawrence David Kusche determined to find more on the triangle. He contacted shipping companies, government agencies, and libraries. He researched journals, Coast Guard reports, and newspaper stories for information about the missing vessels. The result was a well-written book titled The Bermuda Triangle Mystery — Solved.”

“Kusche said that there could be no single common cause for all the disasters and also found out that in many cases, ships were victims of natural causes, such as storms, compass failures, hurricanes, lack of radio on board, and structural weaknesses. He concluded on the second-last page of his book: ‘It is no more logical to try to find a common cause for all the disappearances in the Triangle than, for example, to try to find one cause for all the automobile accidents in Arizona.’ The unpredictable Caribbean-Atlantic storms that give birth to waves of great size as well as waterspouts often spell disaster for mariners. The topography of the ocean floor varies from extensive shoals to some of the deepest marine trenches in the world. With the interaction of strong currents over reefs, the topography is in a constant state of flux and breeds development of new navigational hazards.”

“Yeah … But what about the wreckages ? How did they disappear?”

“It might be due to the ocean currents. The Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current flowing from the Gulf of Mexico around the Florida Straits northeastward toward Europe, is extremely swift and turbulent. It can quickly erase any evidence of a disaster. “

———

“Any idea on how did this ship resurfaced?”

“That’s what they are trying to find,” said Shanmu Uncle.

I replied Ganesh, “Answer is simple : Aliens :P”

___________________________________________

Written by SGA Thomas

The post Shanmu Uncle: What happens to Ships entering Bermuda triangle ? appeared first on OutFocus.