New Delhi, Jul 23 (IANS): As many as 100 seismic stations will come up in the next five years to increase the detection capability of earthquakes up to magnitude 2.5 throughout the country, 35 of which would be completed by December 2021, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

"A total of 35 new Seismological Observatories shall be commissioned in order to spatially densify the gap areas and to improve the magnitude detection threshold down to 3.0 (M:3.0) in the country. These will start functioning by December 2021 as installation for the same is already under progress.

"This will take the strength of National Seismological Network (NSN) to 150 by December 2021," Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said in a statement laid on the table in the Lok Sabha.

National Centre for Seismology (NCS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences is the nodal agency of the Government of India for monitoring and study of earthquakes in and around the country. The NCS maintains a National Seismological Network (NSN) consisting of 115 observatories across the country.

The network is capable of recording any event of magnitude 2.5 and above in and around Delhi, magnitude 3.0 and above for the Northeast region, 3.5 and above in Peninsular and extra-peninsular region, 4.0 and above in Andaman region, and 4.5 magnitude and above in the border regions.