The earthquake in Buryatia is not a rare phenomenon. This is explained by the geographical position of the republic: located on the territory of the Baikal rift, it is doomed to survive periodic outbreaks of seismic activity.
Theoretical training
The reason for the occurrence of tremors is different: artificial ones are caused by an anthropogenic factor, natural ones are caused by forces of nature. Most of the most devastating earthquakes are naturally occurring and occur due to the collision of huge strata of the earth's crust, called tectonic plates or platforms. About a million of such shocks occur each year - and most of them go unnoticed.
How earthquake strength is measured
The place of the earth's crust, where its displacement occurs and where seismic waves propagate, is called the center, and the surface of the planet above it is the epicenter of the earthquake. In this place tremors are most powerful.
It is customary to talk about the intensity and magnitude of an earthquake. Often these concepts are confused - and in vain, these are completely different things. The intensity of an earthquake is measured by its consequences: a 1-point can only be recorded by a seismograph, a 12-point changes the terrain and is completely destroyed.
A seismograph is a device that measures the magnitude of an earthquake. For this, the Richter scale, containing from 1 to 9.5 divisions, is most often used. With shocks up to 5 points, objects swing in the room, up to 6 - cracks form in the walls. At 9 points, great destruction is inevitable. An earthquake with a 9-point magnitude occurred in 2011 in Japan - the consequences were terrible (and this is in a prosperous country that is not used to seismic activity).
Where to wait for an earthquake
If you look at the map, it’s easy to see that earthquakes adhere to certain “lines” on the globe. There are two seismic activity belts in the world: the Mediterranean-Asian and the Pacific “ring of fire”.
Dangerous from this point of view, the regions in Russia are about 28%. 9-point earthquakes are possible in the Baikal region, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. Thus, the Republic of Belarus is located in one of the most vulnerable areas of the country to strong earthquakes.
The most impressive earthquake in Buryatia occurred in 1862 - then the Tsagan steppe with an area of 230 square km went into the water and a new Bay of Baikal was formed, called Proval.
Seismic activity in recent years
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, over the past 7 years in Buryatia more than 500 seismic events of various intensities have been recorded.
The earthquake in Buryatia in 2011 hit the national press on December 27: Tove shook 6.7 points. But local media reported tremors on January 26 (5.3 points), February 2 (6.7), May 28 (5.4), July 17 (5.9). Seismologists started talking about the fact that such activity is not good. A series of tremors can portend a strong earthquake in Buryatia that occurs in the republic about once every 60 years.
However, experts are cunning: there is no way to predict this natural phenomenon, although scientists from many countries have long been struggling with the problem. Fishes and pets made more notable successes: some time before the earthquake, dogs, cats, parrots and even aquarium inhabitants are anxious, trying to break out of a limited space. At many seismic stations, experts observe the behavior of animals: some of them are able to predict an earthquake several hours or even days before it begins.
However, back to the seismic situation in Belarus
In 2013, the total number of earthquakes exceeded one hundred, but the press recorded about five. The magnitude of the tremors of the strongest of them was 4.6 points. By the standards of the republic, this is almost nothing.
The next year was more productive. The earthquake in Buryatia on August 12, 2014 with a magnitude of 4.2 was not the first to hit the press - in May the republic shook 6.5 points on the Richter scale. This is quite a lot - but, fortunately, the epicenter was far from settlements, there were no destruction and casualties. In November, tremors of magnitude 4.8 were recorded, and on December 7, the last earthquake in Buryatia occurred in the calendar year. 2014 ended, 2015 began - but the situation has not changed at all: since January the republic has been “shaking" for more than 30 times, the strength of the shocks ranged from 3.2 to 4.5 points.
Reading the free press
What a good event for news sites is an earthquake. The Republic of Buryatia in this aspect is a bonanza for the media: the population is frightened, specialists can once again cross their swords and discuss for a long time on how widespread the destruction in Ulan-Ude will be, shake this area by 8-9 points. These conversations, unfortunately, are not at all groundless. In the event of such a strong earthquake, serious destruction is inevitable in Buryatia: a huge part of the buildings in the capital do not comply with seismic safety standards.
Meanwhile, for a person interested in this topic, two things are obvious:
1. There are no statistics of seismic activity of the region in the public domain. Those who wish can, of course, familiarize themselves with the relevant publications in the media, but the feeling of "some understatement" remains.
2. Information about the seismic characteristics of the Buryat new buildings in the public domain is again not available. And this is a little alarming.
