THE work on the Institute of Seismological Research (ISR), the World Bank-aided project conceived by the government about five years ago after the devastating Kutch earthquake, will start soon with the government allotting 12 acres of land near Koba on the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad highway for the institute.
The government has already appointed an Ahmedabad-based architect to prepare design for the institute, and the State Roads and Building Department that has been entrusted the task of construction will soon issue tenders for it. The Rs 50 crore ISR will function under the Science and Technology Department.
“Our country has National Geological Research Centre (NGRC) based in Hyderabad, but this institute is not exclusively dealing with study or research in seismic activity. The ISR being set up in Gujarat will be the first-of-its-kind in the country, where world-class facilities will be provided not only for seismological research, but also for training and education in this area,” Secretary (Science and Technology) Raj Kumar told Express Newsline on Saturday.
Raj Kumar said that the process of recruiting scientists and other technical personnel for the institute will start from Monday, with interview letters being dispatched to prospective geophysicists, earth scientists and geoinformatics personnel across the country. A new ISR building and other infrastructure should be ready in the next one year or so, he said.
The government has already purchased 40 Strong Motion Accelerographs (SMAs) and 22 seismographs from a Switzerland-based firm, which will be part of an integrated system to study and analyse seismic activity not only across Gujarat, but also around the country.
The imported instruments that have been sent to the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee for testing will be brought to Gujarat by this December end.
Raj Kumar said both the sophisticated SMAs and seismographs would be installed at the 22 observatories being set up in different districts of the State. These instruments to generate and collect seismic data continuously will be linked with the satellite, and flash data to the Central Data Analysis Centre to be created at the ISR.
Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA)’s Joint CEO V Thiruppugazh said the government had already decided to hire satellite bandwidth for this.
The construction work on 16 of the 22 observatories has been completed, while the work on the rest is expected to be over in the next few days, he said, adding, “The study of seismic activity through an integrated system will be mainly concentrated in the most sensitive Kutch region which falls under Zone V.”
Thiruppugazh said the ISR will not only help in research on under the earth and sea activity, but also offer training and education facilities. The institute will also help the government plan out micro-zones and detect faults under the earth. “We have learnt a lot from the killer quake of 2001, and we hope the ISR will help us understand the earth science system that will ultimately enable us to construct safe houses, buildings and dams in the State, particularly in the areas falling under the Zone V and IV,” he said.