Azerbaijan setting up new centers for earthquake prediction
By Nigar Orujova
The Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) is planning to set up two other stations for earthquake prediction.
This was announced by the Head of the Institute's Innovation and Information Technologies laboratory, Gambar Guliyev on March 14.
"The stations will be installed in the Khachmaz and Zagatala regions of Azerbaijan," Guliyev said.
Seven stations are already operating in Azerbaijan. They detect and monitor abnormal seismic processes.
The stations are located on the island of Gum Adasi, Neftchala, Naftalan, Shirvan, Siyazan, Gazakh regions and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
The new centers are supposed to work along with the current ones to cover much territory of the country to determine the epicenters of earthquakes more accurately.
Currently, operating stations are able to detect abnormal seismic processes 15-20 hours prior to their surface manifestations.
The stations send directly the seismic acoustic signals to the institute.
High-frequency satellite channels are used for transmission of signals, which allows the institute to conduct more qualitative experiments at a higher level.
Seismically active zone
The last earthquake took place in Azerbaijan on March 15,
measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale at 22 kilometers to the
northwest of Lankaran. It was recorded at a depth of 24 km in
Masalli region, and tremors measuring 3-4 on the Richter scale were
felt in nearby settlements.
Moreover, an earthquake of 4 magnitude on the Richter scale
occurred at 42 kilometers to the northeast of Guba on the same day.
Tremors were recorded at a depth of 3 km in the sea, and were felt
up to 3 points in nearby settlements.
Azerbaijan is located in a seismically active zone. It had over 6,000 earthquakes in 2013. Only four of them were sensed on the ground.
Earlier this year, residents of Baku were frightened by a strong earthquake, which was said to strike the capital. It came after an earthquake of 5.7 magnitude on the Richter scale in Saatli region on February 10. The earthquake was followed by strong tremors of three to five magnitude on the Richter scale across the country and even abroad.
However, the ANAS Institute of Geology assured that these predictions of strong earthquakes in Azerbaijan are baseless.