Will there be another big earthquake tonight? plus this and that...

• Judging by the periodicity of occurrence of mega-quakes shown above, it is extremely  unlikely that a big quake will occur here in the near future.
  So those who are busy spreading rumors about another big one rattling us tonight, just shut up and let ordinary people get on with their lives and more importantly, let the relief and reconstruction work go thru without people jumping out of their skins at the slightest noise or vibration by a passing vehicle.
• And there is no volcano in north Sikkim (despite the hot springs which exist there) so where is the question of one erupting ?
• What is far more likely to happen is, there will be landslides if it rains the way it did two days ago (yes! the monsoons are still active in this region and the cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal lasts upto Nov - see here). The reason for this is obvious :-
• The soil is absolutely saturated after almost 5 months of rain.
• Many places are cracked and weakened by the recent 6.9 Richter earthquake and   are likely to crumble in intense, heavy downpours.  

• So with all our buildings and homes cracked and damaged, I think we all learnt a lesson and should get our home insured as soon as possible, right?
  Wrong!
  What I was told by an insurance company representative is that most probably insurance companies will stop insurance against earthquakes and maybe landslides too in this region (since it makes poor business sense to insure property in a high risk area).
  So before you dole out the premium to the insurance agent, just turn the page and check the fine print – you might just end up insuring your house against fire and theft only !
  
  Praful Rao