Thursday, December 1 2005 14:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Concerned over the destruction caused by earthquakes and rains in recent times, President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam today (December 1, 2005) called upon the international scientist community to concentrate their energies on core areas like monsoon and earthquake dynamics and health and energy.

Focussing on the need for more research on monsoon dynamics, Kalam, after inaugurating a five-day conference on 'Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences here, pointed out that accurate and timely prediction of monsoons was a global research priority and scientists should try to figure out the quantity of water carried by clouds.

Stating that the country was witnessing a new phenomenon, he said scientists were yet to fully understand the physics of cloud movement and cloud capacity.

He referred to the 950 mm of rainfall on a single day in Mumbai, torrential and unprecedented rains in places like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu, which experienced the December last Tsunami and now the monsoons.

The President, who had earlier made an aeirial survey of hit hears of Tamil Nadu like Tiruchirapalli, Myaladuthurai, Cuddalore and Chidambaram areas of Tamil Nadu, said 'it is important for us to know what is in store and what quantity of water is going to pour down on us'.