Hyderabad-based CSIR-NGRI took up seismic study of Ayodhya Ram Temple site during peak COVID-19

Hyderabad-based CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute conducted seismic study to ensures solid foundation for Sri Rama Janmabhoomi Temple construction amid seismic hazards.

Hyderabad-basedCSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) took about a month during the peak COVID-19 pandemic to finalise the various geo-scientific studies at the Sri Rama Janmabhoomi Temple site before the construction began to ensure that the structure is built on a solid foundation and will be able to withstand a quake of up to 8.2 on the Richter Scale.

The premier institute was approached by the then DG-CSIR following a meeting with the chairman, construction committee, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to investigate the site for seismic hazard, as the site lies in the Indo-Gangetic plain which is vulnerable to the hazards from the Himalayan earthquakes.

“We began the work in December 2020 during the pandemic and the report was handed over to the Kshetra Trust by mid-January 2021. We got our study reviewed by the independent third-party expert group before finalising the report and making the presentation to the stakeholders,” explained senior scientist Anand Kumar Pandey.

Dr. Pandey led the team of more than 25 scientists to the temple site, lugging heavy state-of-the-art equipment to undertake shallow sub-surface imaging and site-specific seismic hazard studies to ensure that the foundation is on strong ground in view of the Sarayu River flowing about a kilometre away.

Scientists point out that the Temple Trust wanted to take all precautions, considering that the great earthquake in 1934 had devastated north Bihar while the 2015 Kathmandu quake tremors were experienced in the entire Himalayan region and the adjacent Ganga plain. What helped them was an existing NGRI seismic station at Faizabad, 10 km away from the temple site, set up under the Indo-Japan collaboration recording continuous live data on the rumblings beneath including the Nepal earthquakes.

Geological and geophysical studies were taken up using Ground Penetration Radar (GPR), Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW), Electrical Resistivity and IP tomography (ERT-IP), Deep Resistivity Sounding (DRS), seismometers and seismic accelerometers to monitor even micro tremors at the temple complex. These studies and their variables go as different inputs into the earthquake hazards and design parameter analysis of a site.

“Soil content and layers were checked up to 800 metres, sending power shocks from a 10 KV generator using DRS and CSMT experiment outside the temple complex. We used all non-invasive geophysical techniques without disturbing anything and worked without attracting any unwanted attention with confidentiality,” said the scientist.