GUWAHATI: Dr Ranjit Das, a scientist hailing from the Northeast state of Assam, has invented a new and “more accurate” earthquake measuring scale.
The new earthquake measuring scale invented by Dr Ranjit Das from Assam has reportedly ‘replaced’ the 84-year-old Richter scale, which introduced in 1935.
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The new earthquake measuring scale invented by Dr Ranjit Das from Assam came to be known as the Das Magnitude Scale (Mwg).
The Assam geophysics scientist made a Physics-based earthquake measuring system with a greater degree of accuracy than the American scientist Charles Francis Richter’s ‘localised’ creation, reported The Better India.
The Mwg is a fundamental contribution to understanding the physics of earthquakes and tectonic processes that cause them.
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Dr Ranjit Das from Assam currently resides in the South American nation of Chile.
He works with the National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (CIGIDEN) in Santiago, Chile.
He also teaches in the Universidad Catolica del Norte in Antofagasta, Chile.
Besides he is an Associate Editor of an International Peer Reviewed Journal — Journal of Geophysics.
42-year-old Dr Ranjit Das was born at Dhekiajuli in Assam.
He was the sixth among nine siblings.
His father, late Dhirendra Das, left his railways’ job to run a fruit shop close to their residence while his mother, Bedena Das, was a housewife.
Dr Das completed his schooling in Assamese medium and went on to pursue his BSc (Physics) from Guwahati University in Assam in 2001.
After graduation, he completed his Master of Computer Application from Tezpur University in Assam in 2004.
He also completed MTech in Computational Seismology from Tezpur University in Assam in 2008.
In 2013, he completed his PhD from IIT-Roorkee in Earthquake Engineering.
Later, he also went on to finish his Post Doctorate from the IIT-Bombay in 2015.
“As a young boy, I always wondered why earthquakes could not be forecast or controlled. My first formal exposure to seismology, theories of earthquake occurrences, seismic wave propagation, strong ground motion and its damaging effect to buildings, etc. started when I joined M.Tech in Computational Seismology in 2006,” Dr Das was quotes as saying by The Better India.
According to him, Chile is one of the highest seismic areas in the world experiencing frequent moderate to intermediate magnitude events.
He chose Chile for doing earthquake research because major earthquakes strike the area every 12-15 years.
Talking to The Better India, Dr Das from Assam stated that the Mwg scale developed by him will play an important role in emergency management because it is possible to estimate quick seismic moments from the first few cycles of P-waves.
This scale is very closely related to seismic energy and earthquake damage potential.
“Mwg has a significant bearing on hazard mapping in seismic zones such as the Himalayan belt where a major earthquake is due but cannot be pinpointed,” Dr Das said.