'Bay of Bengal faces threat of devastating tsunami'

September 6, 2007

Link:

nami/articleshow/2342500.cms

6 Sep 2007, 1048 hrs IST,PTI

MELBOURNE: Millions of people living around the northern Bay of Bengal face

the threat of a giant tsunami as devastating as the one in 2004, an

Australian scientist has claimed.

There has been concern about the likelihood of another large earthquake off

central Sumatra, just east of where the 2004 temblor struck triggering the

Indian Ocean tsunami almost three years ago.

However, Phil Cummins, a senior seismologist at Geoscience Australia, has

now found " compelling evidence " of a potential tsunami risk in the northern

Bay of Bengal, particularly along the coasts of Burma and Bangladesh.

More than 60 million people lived within 10 metres of sea level at the

bay's northern tip, he said, and heavily populated towns such as Chittagong,

Dhaka and Kolkata could also be affected by such an event.

His findings, published in Nature today , are based on a review of

geological data, combined with a study of precise measurements of movements

in the Earth's surface.

This work suggested that the boundary between tectonic plates near the

Burmese coast was much more active than previously thought.

The movements of the plates were consistent with a so-called

" locked-thrust " fault, the kind needed to generate tsunamis, but may have

been masked by a 20-kilometre thick layer of sediment known as the Bengal

Fan.

Cummins said it may be more than 200 years before the next giant earthquake

strikes. And while smaller events could occur earlier, " the risk of a major

tsunami in the northern Bay of Bengal should be taken seriously " .

He warned against panic or the introduction of any " drastic mitigation

measures " , but hoped his study would lead to further research into the

potential risk.

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