India's Top 5 Costliest bikes

5.Bugatti Veyron 

The most expensive bike launched in 2015, the Indian Roadmaster has 

been priced at Rs 34.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The bagger type 

cruiser has a huge appearance with a dry weight of more than 400 kg.

Its key features include the iconic Thunder Stroke 111 engine, ABS, 

Cruise Control, keyless start, 200-watt stereo system with Bluetooth and 

smartphone compatibility, horizon power windshield, 142.33 litres of 

remote locking storage, comfortable heated grips and seats and keyless 

ignition.

 4. BMW K 1600 GTL

The BMW K 1600 GTL is the most expensive sports-tourer available in 

India, with a price tag of Rs 36.28 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The unique 

motorcycle comes with an in-line 6-cylinder engine displacing 1,649cc 

which produces a maximum output of 160PS at 7,750rpm and delivers a 

peak torque of 175Nm at 5,250 rpm.

Besides that, it gets digital engine management (BMS-X), high-

performance braking with ABS, traction control and a fully adjustable 

suspension set-up as standard, while the adaptive headlight and ESA II 

(Electronic Suspension Adjustment) are optional.

3. Ducati Panigale R

The just-barely-road-legal Ducati Panigale R has been priced in India at 

Rs 49.02 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Born for the racetracks, the bike has 

a power output of 205PS and a dry weight of just 162kg, which makes it 

one of the fastest accelerating machines on the planet.

Powered by a Superquadro 1198cc, L-Twin engine, the highly advanced 

supersports bike gets different riding modes, power modes, cornering 

ABS, DTC (Ducati traction control), DQS (Ducati quick shift) up/down, 

DWC (Ducati wheelie control), EBC (engine braking control), ride-by-wire, 

DDA+ (Ducati data analyser plus) with GPS and lean angle acquisition, 

auto tyre calibration and auxiliary adjustment buttons.

 2. Harley-Davidson CVO Limited

Priced at Rs 49.32 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), the CVO Limited is the most 

expensive bike in Harley-Davidson's line-up. Like the Indian Roadmaster, 

it is a super-premium touring bike that offers the ultimate comfort, 

convenience, style and power.

The bike gets Twin-Cooled Twin Cam 110 engine, which is a 1,801cc V-

twin and delivers 156Nm of peak torque at just 3,750 rpm. Key features of 

the CVO Limited include infotainment system with a full-colour 

touchscreen, high-performance Reflex linked, tyre pressure monitoring, 

dual control heated seat with passenger and rider backrest, Brembo 

brakes with ABS, keyless ignition and much more.

1. MV Agusta F4 RC

Just recently launched in India, the MV Agusta F4 RC is the most 

expensive motorcycle in the country, with a price tag of Rs 50 lakh (ex-

showroom, Pune). The exotic Italian superbike is a replica of their Reparto 

Corse team's FIM Superbike World Championship motorcycle and is a 

limited edition.

Powered by a 214.8PS engine, the F4 RC weighs 15kg lesser than even 

the RR model. Besides the dedicated race bike paint job it gets one of the 

most advanced electronic package with Bosch 9 Plus ABS (race mode 

and rear wheel lift-up mitigation), fully adjustable suspension set-up and 

other kit racing parts.

Advances Since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tragedy | sci-english.blogspot.com

Tsunami File photo in tamilnadu, india | sci-english.blogspot.com

The Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters in history. Enormous waves struck countries in South Asia and East Africa with little to no warning, killing 243,000 people. The destruction played out on television screens around the world, fed by shaky home videos. The outpouring of aid in response to the devastation in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and elsewhere was unprecedented.

The disaster raised awareness of tsunamis and prompted nations to pump money into research and warning systems.  on the 10th anniversary of the deadly tsunami, greatly expanded networks of seismic monitors and ocean buoys are on alert for the next killer wave in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and the Caribbean. In fact, tsunami experts can now forecast how tsunamis will flood distant coastlines hours before the waves arrive.

But hurdles remain in saving lives for everyone under the threat of tsunamis. No amount of warning will help those who need to seek immediate shelter away from beaches, disaster experts said.


"A lot of times, you're not going to get any warning near these zones where there are large earthquakes, so we have to prepare the public to interpret the signs and survive," said Mike Angove, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) tsunami program. In 2004, the tsunami waves approached coastal Indonesia just nine minutes after the massive magnitude-9.1 earthquake stopped shaking, Angove said.


 On alert

Since 2004, geologists have uncovered evidence of several massive tsunamis in buried sand layers preserved in Sumatran caves. It turns out that the deadly waves aren't as rare in the Indian Ocean as once thought. "We had five fatal tsunamis off the coast of Sumatra prior to 2004," said Paula Dunbar, a scientist at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. Over the past 300 years, 69 tsunamis were seen in the Indian Ocean, she said.

Despite the risk, there was no oceanwide tsunami warning system in the region. Now, a $450 million early-alert network is fully operational, though it is plagued with equipment problems. (Even the global monitoring network loses 10 percent of its buoys each year, according to NOAA.) Essentially built from scratch, the $450 million Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOWTS) includes more than 140 seismometers, about 100 sea-level gauges and several buoys that detect tsunamis. More buoys were installed, but they have been vandalized or accidentally destroyed. The buoys and gauges help detect whether an earthquake triggered a tsunami.

The global network of Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) buoys, which detects passing tsunami waves, has also expanded, from six buoys in 2004 to 60 buoys in 2014, Angove said.

Regional tsunami alert centers have been built in Australia, India and Indonesia. Scientists at the centers decide whether a tsunami is likely based on information from the network of sensors, estimate the probable size, then alert governments to get the warning out through sirens, TV, radio and text alerts.

Getting the warnings down to people living in remote coastal areas is one of the biggest hurdles for the new system. Not all warnings reach the local level. And not every tsunami earthquake is strong enough to scare people away from shorelines. In Sumatra's Mentawai Islands, a 2010 tsunami killed more than 400 people because residents failed to evacuate in the short time between the earthquake and the tsunami's  arrival. The shaking was simply not strong enough to trigger people's fear of tsunamis, even though islanders had self-evacuated after a 2007 earthquake, according to an investigation by the University of Southern California's Tsunami Research Center. There was also no clear-cut warning from the regional tsunami alert system.

"Tsunami earthquakes remain a major challenge," Emile Okal, a seismologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said Dec. 15 at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) annual meeting in San Francisco.