KATHMANDU, Jan 7: Seismologists said that it is not accurate to assume that frequent tremors indicate the risk of a major earthquake. They emphasized that earthquakes cannot be predicted.
Dr Lok Bijay Adhikari, a senior seismologist at the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center under the Department of Mines and Geology, said that just because aftershocks are occurring, it does not imply that there is risk of a major earthquake immediately. He also pointed out that predicting earthquakes is not feasible.
On Tuesday morning, an earthquake of 6.8 magnitudes occurred in Dinggye County of Tibet, an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China and its tremors were registered in Kathmandu and other parts of the eastern region of the country.
“The aftershocks of earthquakes occurring in the area indicate that seismic energy is accumulating there. If minor earthquakes continue, there is a possibility of a major earthquake in the future,” he said, “However, as of now, it is not possible to predict when an earthquake might occur.”