Mapping of Earthquake Prone Areas: Earthquake and its assessment

Extract:
Chapter 1, Introduction:
Seismology is the study of seismic waves which are used to measure the intensity of earthquakes. Seismic waves are the waves of energy caused by the movements of tectonic plates. Geographically, Pakistan is situated on Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. The Northwest (NW) Himalayan Thrust, the continental collision between the Eurasian and Indo-Pak palates formed the mighty Himalayas. Its north-west front is the most active seismic zone in the world.
It is noticeable from the seismic events of Pakistan that seismicity of this area is associated with the both surface and blind faults. Further, the surface faults events show that fault segments especially the hinterland zone are more active.
The damping effect of thick Precambrian salt is the reason of lesser seismic activity in the parts of active deformational front (Salt Range and Bannu).Pakistan and its neighboring countries come in high frequency earthquake range. The most severe Makran earthquake of 1945 with a magnitude of 8.3, affected Pakistan worst and created many offshore islands along the Makran coast.On the basis of plate tectonic features, geological structures, orogenic history (age and nature of the deformation, magnetism and metamorphism) and lithoffacies, Pakistan may be subdivided into the following broad tectonic zones i.e. Indus Plate Form and Foredeep, East Balochistan Fold and Thrust Belt, Northwest Himalayan Fold and Thrust Belt, Kohistan Ladakh Magamtic Arc, Karakorm Block, Kakar Khorasan Flysch Basin and Makran Accretionary Zone, Chaghi Magmatic Arc and Pakistani Offshore.
To conduct our research with multidisciplinary data sets, we need a convenient platform for data collection and organization that we get from GIS.
One of the most important features of a geographic information system is the manipulation and analysis of both spatial (graphic) and non-spatial (non-graphic) data. Every seismological parameter contains necessary information such as

The author holds an M.Sc. degree in Meteorology (specialization in Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical information systems (GIS)) from the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, and also a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Space Science (specialization in Environment) from the Department of Space Science, University of the Punjab. In M.S Meteorology his research thesis was Application of Geographical information system for the tectonic Plate in Pakistan, while in B.Sc. (Hons) his research project was Spatial and Temporal Variation in Climate of Lahore (Pakistan) due to Rainfall.
To date, the author has achieved many prizes, trophies and certificates. He stood distinguished in his batch at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad in M.S., and was in the first merit list of CIIT and the Department of Space science, University of the Punjab, Lahore, at the time of his admission. Based on his outstanding academic career, the author has been awarded with a merit scholarship at CIIT. His research paper Spatial and Temporal Variation in Climate of Lahore (Pakistan) due to Rainfall has been published in International Conference on Water, Environment and Health Sciences: The Climate Change Challenges . This Conference was organized by the Universidad de las Americas, Puebla in April, 13-17, 2009, at Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.
The author has a decent knowledge of Geographic Information System (GIS) with Elements of Mapping & Cartography and Application of Remote Sensing plus Digital Image Processing & Environment Science, Analysis, Meteorology and Climatology. Additionally, he has partaken in study projects at the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) and the University of the Punjab.