February 05, 2003 The unique capabilities of a NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory-built and managed instrument aboard an
Earth-observing satellite have allowed researchers to view
effects of a major earthquake that occurred in 2001 in Northern
India near the border of Pakistan. Lead researcher Dr. Bernard
Pinty of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability in the
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra, Italy,
together with colleagues from the United States, France and
Germany, used the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (Misr)
instrument on NASA's Terra satellite to observe the effects of a
massive earthquake in the Gujarat province of India. Results of
their study appear in the current issue of the American
Geophysical Union's journal, Eos. Considered one of the two most
damaging seismic events in India's recorded history, the Gujarat
quake struck January 26, 2001, and had a magnitude of 7.7
(Richter scale). About 20,000 people died and another 16 million
people were affected. Local res