National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center (NEMRC)

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal lies in one of the active continental collision zone of the world, the Himalaya, where the probability of Earthquake occurrence is very high. Many destructive Earthquakes have been reported in the historical records within the Himalayan arc. Out of which the 1934 Bihar-Nepal Earthquake (Magnitude 8) and the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake (Mw 7.8) occurred in the Nepal Himalaya. Seismic Risk Reduction mainly depends on Earthquakes hazard assessment based on Seismic instrumental data and other relevant research.

Seismic monitoring in Nepal Himalaya started since 1978 with one short-period seismometer installed in Phulchoki, Lalitpur.  Currently, weak motion, geodetic and strong motion sensors are used to monitor seismic activities in Nepal and its surrounding. National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center (NEMRC) under the Department of Mines and Geology (DMG) is an elaborated structure of National Seismological center (NSC) under DMG. NEMRC/DMG in collaboration with various institutions like DASE (Department Analyses Surveillance Environment)/France, CALTECH (California institute of Technology)/USA, EOS (Earth Observatory Singapore), RIMES/Thailand and with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)/Japan conducting various researches regarding Microseismicity, Macroseismicity, Strong Ground Motion, Crustal Deformation and Seismic Hazard Assessment.

After the 2015 Gorkha earthquake seismic stations of various types are realized by the Government of Nepal for the efficient location of earthquake and to reduce the interstation distances. The established technical collaborations with overseas universities and research institutions are University of Tokyo Japan, China earthquake Administration (CEA) and Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Earthquake Early Warning System in Asia and Africa (RIMES) based on Thailand. Among them the University of Tokyo in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has established a network of 8 seismic and accelerometric stations and a network of 10 cGPS stations mainly outside the Kathmandu valley, it has also installed 10 accelerometers in and around the Kathmandu valley. Likewise, CEA has established a network of 10 seismic, 10 accelerometric and 10 cGPS stations covering mainly the northern territory of Nepal. RIMES has established a network of 2 seismic, 2 accelerometric, 2 cGPS stations in the southern part of the country (Bardibas and Dang).

Currently, we have 42 seismic stations for earthquake monitoring, 50 GPS stations for crustal deformation monitoring and 36 Accelerometers for strong motion database collection.

Besides monitoring the earthquakes of Nepal Himalaya, many research activities have been conducted and published in collaboration with international institutions and it also provides a valuable database for the Global Seismic Hazard assessment and playing an important role in the Seismic Risk Reduction of Nepal.

Objectives and Activities

1. Maintaining  seismic stations

Seismic stations installed all over Nepal are monitored  & maintained on regular basis.

Datacenter within NEMRC is also monitored regularly.

2. Data acquisition & processing

• Earthquake parameters are localized as immediately as possible & the information is conveyed to the concerned organizations/individuals.

• Processing is done using the software.

3. Seismic Researches

• Crustal deformation monitoring

• Paleo-seismological  and Neo-tectonic studies

• Microtremor studies

• Earthquake precursor studies

• Seismic Hazard Assessment

4. Dispatch the Earthquake Informations

• All earthquakes above 4.0 Richter scale are updated on the website: www.seismonepal.gov.np

• Notice Board Service: 1618014410141

• Information to NEOC / NDRRMA, MoHA

• Through phone calls/Hotline

• Twitter: @NepalNsc                         

• Facebook: info@seismonepal.gov.np