Pen pal Corner:

Name: Shanaz AMEER

Gender: Female

Age: 14

School: Ilma International Girls’ School

Hobbies: Reading story books, collecting stickers and stamps, playing badminton

Pen pals preferred from: Any country including Sri Lanka

Address: No. 4/50 B, Thalakotuwa Gardens, Narahenpita, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka

*****

Name: A. Mohamed Arsath

Gender: Male

School: Km/Al-Ashraq National School, Intavur

Hobbies: Reading magazines, collecting stamps, gardening

Pen pals preferred from: Any country especially Sri Lanka

Address: No. 294, New Post Office Road, Maligaikadu 2, Kalmunai (EP), Sri Lanka

*****

Name: L.G. Harinda Piyamal Gunawardena

Gender: Male

Age: 14

School: Ananda College, Colombo 10

Hobbies: Playing the guitar and computer games, listening to music, reading story books

Pen pals preferred from: Sri Lanka, England, USA, Australia, India, Japan, China

Age group: 10 - 18

Address: No. 110, Lalitha Stores, Main Street, Deniyaya, Sri Lanka

*****

Name: M.N.M. Wasim

Gender: Male

Age: 16

School: Zahira College, Colombo

Hobbies: Collecting stamps, making electric circuits

Pen pals preferred from: Sri Lanka, Australia, America, Japan, Canada, France

Address: No. 115, Mohideen Masjid Road, Maradana, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka

*****

Name: H.G. Jayani Raveena

Gender: Female

Age: 14

Hobbies: Collecting stamps and old coins

Pen pals preferred from: USA, England, Japan

Age group: 12 - 15

Address: Walakumbura, Alawwa, Sri Lanka

*****

Name: M.A. Maheshika Harshani

Gender: Female

Age: 14

Hobbies: Reading books, collecting stamps

Age group: 12 - 15

Pen pals preferred from: Japan, Australia, USA

Address: Vijitha Stores, Milihiriya, Alawwa, Sri Lanka

*****

Name: H. Yashoda Maneshi

Gender: Female

Age: 14

Hobbies: Reading books

Pen pals preferred from: Australia, England, China

Age group: 12 - 15

Address: Baduwatha, Mapitiya, Alawwa, Sri Lanka

*****

Name: Sandeepani Maduhansi

Gender: Female

Age: 15

School: Samudra Devi Balika Vidyalaya

Hobbies: Playing musical instruments, reading story books, watching TV

Pen pals preferred from: Any country

Address: 139/2C, Siridhara, Prabuddha Mawatha, Mampe, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: M. Lakshika Ladurshini

Gender: Female

Age: 13

School: Girls High School, Kandy

Hobbies: Reading story books, playing netball and chess, watching TV

Pen pals preferred from: Any country

Address: 73/6, Hospital Road, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: Nilukshi Jayasinghe

Gender: Female

Age: 14

School: Musaeus College, Colombo 7.

Pen pals preferred from: Sri Lanka, USA, New Zealand, England

Age group: 13-16

Address: No. 17, Trichibourne Passage, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: S. M. Thilini Kanchana Subasinha

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hobbies: Collecting stamps, reading novels

Pen pals preferred from: India, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, America

Age group: 11-15

Address: C/o S. M. Yasarathna, F/249-1, Nelum Pokuna Gama, Monroviya Watta, Alawwa, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: W. A. Anjalee Ravihari

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Hobbies: Playing netball, reading books

Pen pals preferred from: Japan, India, Sri Lanka, America, England

Age group: 11-15

Address: C/o Ranjith, C/25, Welegadara, Hunuwala, Thulhiriya, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: B. W. Rukshan Sampath

Gender: Male

Hobbies: Collecting information on aliens, reading novels, writing essays and poems, playing table tennis and basketball.

Pen pals preferred from: Sri Lanka or any other country

Age group: 14-18

Address: No. 12/39, Fonseka Road, Laxapathiya, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: D. M. Asini Madumali

Gender: Female

Age: 14

School: H/Tangalle Girls School

Hobbies: Collecting stamps, reading story books

Pen pals preferred from: Sri Lanka, Australia, America, New Zealand, Japan

Age group: 13-16

Address: ‘Sakura’, Karagasara, Boralu Kanda, Ambalantota, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: H. K. Chalitha Darshana

Gender: Male

Age: 14

School: Kumarathunga Munidasa Maha Vidyalaya, Dickwella

Hobbies: Reading books, watching TV

Pen pals preferred from: Japan, Italy, Korea or any other country

Address: 110/B, Nandana Mawatha, Wattegama, Dickwella, Sri Lanka.

*****

Name: G. H. C. Dilruckshi

Gender: Female

Age: 16

School: Sujatha Balika Vidyalaya, Matara

Hobbies: Reading books, watching TV, playing games

Pen pals preferred from: Any country

Address: “Srimali”, Wewurukannala, Dickwella, Sri Lanka.

An Indonesian geologist stands near LCD screens displaying one of the aftershocks following a 7.2-magnitude quake that struck Talaud islands in eastern Indonesia, at Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta, Indonesia. A powerful earthquake off eastern Indonesia last month briefly triggered a tsunami warning, causing a stampede of residents to higher ground. Hundreds of buildings were damaged and at least 42 people were injured, some seriously.

Scientists dig for the guts of earthquakes

Scientists are pursuing earthquakes deep into their subterranean (underground) lairs, studying them on land and below the sea. Yet, confronted with the question of when and where the "next big one" will occur, an uncomfortable silence sets in.

Based on history there will be quakes in Japan, also in Tibet, said Leigh Royden of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Will we ever be able to predict them? I don't know," she said at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"There have been a few signals associated with quakes, but only in hindsight," she said. "And those quakes are rare."

Quakes most often occur at the boundaries of the many moving plates that make up the surface of the Earth. But some also have been recorded well inside the plates, such as the devastating temblor (tremor) that shook Wenchuan, China last year or the 1811-1812 quakes at New Madrid, Missouri that briefly caused the Mississippi River to flow backward.

Scientists can tell when a plate is under high stress, but don't have a way to determine where a fracture will occur, launching a quake, explained Harold Tobin of the University of Wisconsin.

Nevertheless, they continue striving to learn more about quakes and their causes in an effort to find ways to protect lives and property.

James Evans of Utah State University said researchers have drilled nearly 11,500 feet into the San Andreas Fault in California to install instruments in hopes of "really getting into the guts of the fault zone" to record an earthquake.

Tobin is taking part in similar research in the Nankai trough in the western Pacific Ocean, one of the most active seismic areas in the world.

"If we want to understand the physics of how the faults really work, we have to go to those faults in the ocean," he said. "Scientific drilling is the main way we know anything at all about the geology of the two-thirds of the Earth that is submerged (under water)."

"The ultimate goal is a series of deep holes in the trough in a few years," he said.

Deep ocean quakes can be especially dangerous if they generate a tsunami, like the giant sea wave that took hundreds of thousands of lives around the Indian Ocean in 2004.Susan Schwartz, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said researchers have uncovered a third type of slip that occurs along plate boundaries.

Some boundaries have been known to creep along steadily without causing quakes while others stick and then release suddenly, shaking the Earth.

- AP