Can Serpents Predict Earthquake?
According to national earthquake information center 20,000 earthquakes strikes every year out of which 16 are major. Recently India has witnessed 127 miniature earthquakes in first half of last year 2020. A similar trend has been seen across the world, between 1998-2017 earthquake cause nearly 750,000 deaths globally which is more than half of all deaths related to natural disaster as per World Health Organization (WHO).
Neither USGS nor any scientists have ever predicted a major earthquake. Scientists can only calculate the probability of earthquakes that will occur in a specific area within a certain time period this is because earthquakes are natural phenomena better you say disaster – which is caused by a sudden release of stress along faults in the earth's crust. The continuous motion of tectonic plates causes a steady build-up of pressure in the rock strata on both sides of a fault until the stress is sufficiently great that it is released in a sudden, jerky movement and there is no instrument ever made which can predict accurately this movement of plates. During the entire process there is release of energy that propagates in form of waves that travels through earth crust and cause shaking that we feel.
According to USGS, Japan Metrological Agency here is the list of some of major earthquakes:
01. Valdivia (9.5), Chile – 22 May 1960
02. Prince William sound (9.2), Alaska – 28 Mar 1964
03. Sumatra (9.1), Indonesia – 26 Dec 2004
04. Sendai (9.0), Japan – 11 March 2011
05. Kamchatka (9.0), Russia – 04 Nov 1952
06. Bio-Bio (8.8), Chile – 27 Feb 2010
07. Ecuador Coast (8.8) – 31 Jan 1906
08. Rat Island, Alaska (8.7) – 02 Apr 1965
09. Sumatra (8.6), Indonesia – 28 Mar 2005
10. Assam (8.6), India – 15 Aug 1950
Is there any way that we can we can predict its time and place? There are some strange but useful methods that scientists are trying to enhance further for future. Here is the list
a) Animal behavior :
b) Radon Gas Emission
c) Earthquake lights
d) Electric Signals
e) Ambient noise
f) Magnetometers
Out of all the creatures/animals present on the planet earth, snakes/reptiles are the most sensitive to earthquakes," Jiang Weisong, the director of the bureau of earthquake in Nanning, in southern Guangxi province, told. Serpents have exceptional sensitivity and they can sense a striking earthquake from 75 miles away, up to 05 days before it striking. They respond by behaving extremely strange. "When an earthquake is about to strike, snakes will come out of their nests, even in the severe cold of winter. If the earthquake is a massive one, the snakes will even smash into walls while trying to escape," he told to us.
The earthquake bureau in Nanning, a city particularly prone to earthquakes, has developed a system that monitors natural behavior of snakes using technological advanced equipments. Experts at the bureau observe snakes at local snake farms house using video cameras linked to a broadband internet connection running twenty four (24) hours. Many parts of earth are frequently struck by earthquakes, with most hitting remote rural areas, but big cities have also been hit. In 1976 around 250,000 people died in the city of Tangshan which was devastated by an earthquake.
As the Chinese scientists are more focusing on the frequent earthquake Nanning is their favorite choice as it is one of twelve cities in china where earthquake frequently happens and they are monitored by technological advance equipments. It also has 140 creatures monitoring units. Scientists have improved their ability to forecast earthquakes by installing the cameras over the nest of snakes and other reptiles but snakes show exceptional sensitivity. The monitoring system will be extended to the entire country to make earthquake forecasts more precise – Mr. Jiang. It is not limited to snakes only chickens and dogs also behave abnormally when an earthquake is about to strike.
Here we can say that we don’t have any accurate technology that can predict probability of a earthquake. Scientists are only monitoring the behavior of animals especially snakes because it has been noticed that snakes are extra sensitive but question is how much we can rely on this system?
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