Another earthquake

chound

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4323008.stm
Is this an after effect of the tsunami earthquake?

matthyaouw

In a word- no. The two locations are nowhere near each other.

Ophiolite

Not an after effect, but both are related through the movement of the same plate. The Indonesian quake that produced the tsunami was a result of the movement of the Indian Ocean Plate under the Burmese plate. The disastrous quake in Pakistan is a result of the same plate, to which the Indian sub-continent is attached, thrusting under the Asian plate. It is this collision that is uplifting the Himalyas.
The Indian sub-continent is advancing at a rate of about 1.6 inches per year. This is the average motion. Tensions build up within the rocks until they are sufficiently large to rupture the rock, usually along pre-existing fault lines. The quakes (there have been several apart from the large 7.6 magnitude main shock) that have caused such devastation occured along shallow, low angle thrust faults.
This site contains global data on earthquakes and is updated very rapidly. For major quakes it contains a report and links to news items.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html

chound

So will we be seeing more earthquakes in the indian ocean plate?
I have to get my houses insured!

Astronuc

The Himalaya mountains were formed by upthrust of the earth's crust as the Arabian, Indian and Australian plates are pushing against the Eurasion plate.

See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Plate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tectonic_plates.png

The regions (and adjacent areas) containing mountains: Balkans in SE Europe; Causaus in Turkey, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan; and Himalayas/Pamirs/TienShan in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, will see earthquakes for many millenia (probably millions of years) to come.

Also, Indonesia and Philippines, will see more earthquakes and perhaps very strong ones. The countries around the Indian and Pacific Oceans are at risk of tsunami.

matthyaouw

like Astronuc says, yes there will be more. If you meant "will there be more compared to normal", areas of fault systems can become more and less active over time, but over the plate boundary in general, I wouldn't expect there to be more earthquakes than normal.

If you are concerned about insuring properties, you should look into the seismic risk of the specific area. Not all areas of India are at high risk from earthquakes, as the fault zone lies mainly in the north near the himalayas where the Indian plate collides with the Eurasian plate.. Some information and seismic risk maps can be found here: http://asc-india.org/info/seisindia.htm

Astronuc

Besides monitoring earthquakes and seismic activity in my spare time, I also watch on-going and new volcanic activity. This started when an associated photographed a volcano, Asayama, which had abruptly erupted near his home.

My Local Volcano

Earthquakes

Volcanos and Volcanic Activity

Another Volcano

Since 2003, there seems to be a slight increase in seismic activity in the Ring-of-Fire on the western side of the Pacific Ocean, and the Sumatran extension.

Interestingly, there are two volcanos in the Andaman Islands - one on Barren Island and the other on Narcondum Island. The current eruption of Barren Island began on 28 May 2005, but it seems to be low level. This is the northern end of the fault zone that ruptured causing the tsunamis of Dec 26, 2004.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/...volcanoes.html

There may very well be a surge in volcanic and seismic activity in association with the Indian plate. There is also recent activity of a volcano in Ethiopia.

So, all people in all countries bordering the Indian Ocean should be aware that there are risks of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis - perhaps for a while. Northern Sumatra is still getting earthequakes regularly with mag 5+, particularly along the Sunda trench.