Monday, 27 December 2004 |
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by Uditha Kumarasinghe People should be aware that Sri Lanka is no longer safe from earthquakes due to a new plate boundary phenomenon which is being formed in the south of Sri Lanka, Senior Geologist of Peradeniya University and former Director of the Institute of Fundamental Studies Prof. C.B. Dissanayake told the Daily News yesterday. He said there are 12 plate boundaries on Earth which move around. Earth quakes take place when these plates are collide with earth other. Sri Lanka is located inside the Indo-Australian plate. Therefore we think that Sri Lanka does not get earth quakes. However geologists have pointed out that a new plate is forming south of Sri Lanka. As a result the Indo-Sri Lanka plate is breaking up right near the south of Sri Lanka. Therefore this kind of geological change may cause earthquakes. "Sri Lanka is no longer safe from earthquakes. A recent research conducted by James Cochran, a scientist of Doherty Laboratory in the USA has also predicted this new plate forming phenomenon developing in South of Sri Lanka," he said. Prof. Dissanayake said the people should be aware of this new plate boundary phenomenon which will have the possibility of causing earthquakes. He said yesterday's earth quake was reported somewhere in Sumatra which has been identified as a well known earthquake area. This one was a giant earthquake compared with the December tremor occurred in Sri Lanka. In an earthquake, water level in the sea drastically increase by leading to this kind of massive tidal waves, he said. |
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