World renowned Geologist and Project Director of US funded Paleo-seismology programme, Dr Robert Yeats called on Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Amanullah Khan Jadoon here on Wednesday and briefed him about his study on active faults in Pakistan.
The Minister lauded the invaluable services of Dr Robert Yeats in the field of geology and actively involvement in studying the earthquake fault zones in Pakistan.
He emphasised the need to educate the masses about the earthquake geology and safety measures to cope with unforeseen natural calamity in a befitting manner. Dr Robert Yeats informed the Minister that the US funded project would involve young geologists from Geological Survey of Pakistan, University of Peshawar, Islamabad and AJK to study the active faults in Pakistan along with Dr Andrew Meigs of Oregon State University and Dr Doug Yule of California State University Northridge.
Dr Yeats also told that a workshop on Paleo-seismology would be organised in Muzaffarabad in March 2008 in which the students would learn techniques, to determine the age of earlier earthquakes in Pakistan and skills to deal with the frequently large earthquakes strike.
He informed that under the project bright young geologists would be sent to Oregon and California for Ph.D.degree programme. It may be added that Dr Robert Yeats is the first author of text book 'Geology of Earthquakes', published by Oxford Press and used around the world, and two outreach books for the general public on earthquakes in the western US. He has published more than 150 papers in international journals.
He began working in Pakistan in 1978 on the Chaman fault in Balochistan and has published papers on active faults in the Salt Range and the Peshawar Basin. He has also published a paper on the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and another paper on the surface rupture scientists from Geological Survey of Pakistan. Secretary Petroleum Ahmed Waqar, Directors General (Geological Survey of Pakistan) and Minerals were also present during the meeting.