Thursday, January 20 2005 17:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Natural Disasters like the recent tsunami devastation prove that advancement in technology is no answer in taking on the forces of nature, eminent astrophysicist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar said in Kolkata today (Jan 20, 2005).

''Such disasters show that sometimes the natural forces are so harsh that our technology can't cope up with them,'' the internationally acclaimed scientist told newspersons on the sidelines of a programme.

Narlikar said that the magnitude of the quake, which triggered giant tsunami waves across large parts of south and south east Asia and east Africa, had made the earth wobbly.

''But we need to conduct more detailed studies to arrive at a definite conclusion on the exact long term effects of the tsunami on the earth's orbit,'' said the 68 year-old, who is internationally acclaimed for his work in Cosmology and championing alternative models to the popular Big Bang theory.

Queried on the impact of the recent appearance of big sun spots - seven times the size on the earth - visible even to the naked eye, the Padmabibhushan awardee said, ''These sort of activities keep on happening. They take place in a 11-year cycle''.

''But the problem is we are yet to ascertain the cause of such activities, though the Sun is being monitored round the clock from various observatories globally,'' he said.

In India, the Udaipur Positional Astronomy centre was doing the job.