Trickle of hopeWater has suddenly appeared in the middle of an arid part of north-west India, as a result of January's devastating earthquake in Gujarat. As many as 20,000 people may have died in the magnitude 7.7 tremor. The region is regularly convulsed by earthquakes. Over the years these earthquakes have diverted watercourses and dried up rivers, turning the lush grassland of thousands of years ago into a barren wasteland. Local geologists hope the latest earthquake may help to reverse the process. Eyewitness reports say two-metre-high fountains of water appeared near Bhachau, a town that was totally destroyed by the earthquake. Janardhan Negi of the Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad, said the channels could belong to either or both of two ancient rivers in north India. One is the semi-mythical Saraswati, which legend says dried up 4000 years ago. Satellite images have found underground channels in areas where the Saraswati is supposed to have flowed. The second is part of the river Indus, which was diverted after a violent earthquake in 1819. Negi says the 1819 earthquake created a 100-kilometre-long fissure that diverted the river. However, tests have shown that the water is saline.
by Padma Tata and Nicola Jones
February 21 2001
I wonder if the river dried up 4,000 years ago as a result of events that resulted in a 2 mile wide impact crater now visible in the dried up Iraq marshes. There could have been other impacts in the Indian Ocean, much closer to the Indus Valley.