The Hindu : Front Page : Scientists warn of tsunamis to come

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Scientists warn of tsunamis to come

New Delhi: The Indian Ocean may see in the coming decades a repeat of the 2004 tsunami that killed tens of thousands people and left lakhs homeless, scientists have warned.

They reached the conclusion after analysing the 700-year record of earthquake activity near West Sumatra which had left imprints on the shallow coral reefs in the region.

The same way tree-trunks have annual growth rings, coral reefs record the environmental changes taking place over the years. Whenever earthquake activity takes place, the sea-floor is pushed up, lowering the local sea-level and restricting the growth of corals, findings published in the latest edition of the journal Science suggest.

Due to changes in the depth of the ocean, the reefs start expanding outwards. “The cross-section of coral shows the growth rings flattening out or disappearing where the top of the coral head would have been, during years of low sea level,” Kerry Sieh from the California Institute of Technology, lead author of the report, said.

The researchers analysed the cross-sectional details of ancient corals along the 700-km stretch of the ‘Sunda megathrust’ which was intact for 50 years until a September 2007 earthquake opened it.

The findings reveal that the area had witnessed multiple earthquakes over 700 years. Scientists said the September 2007 earthquake may well be an initial event in the next large earthquake which may hit in the coming decades. — PTI

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