Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 25: Orissa felt tremors of an intensity up to 2.0 as the impact of a great quake that rattled lives at Kathmandu with a magnitude of 7.9 on Richter scale Saturday.
Many parts of the state felt the tremors along with the capital city at 11:43am, two minutes after the earthquake occurred in Nepal at 11:41am. The impact was felt in north India along with Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal.
“The epicenter of the earthquake remained 875km north-northwest of Bhubaneswar. Due to its high magnitude, most parts of Orissa felt the tremors at a modified intensity of 2.0. The rumblings were felt for around two to three seconds though no casualty or damage has been reported,” said Met director Sarat Sahu.
Orissa comes under seismic Zone II and III out of the five seismic zones in India. The effect of the Saturday’s earthquake was felt mostly in Zone III area which includes Balasore, Puri, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak and Keonjhar districts.
“Earthquake of such high magnitude is always followed by another series of small quakes which could persist till weeks or a month. Although the earthquake may repeat at a later period, it may not affect Orissa on a large scale,” said Sahu.
Over a span of 40 years, Orissa had witnessed nearly 14 earthquakes out of which the worst was last year’s which occurred near Paradip with a magnitude of 6.0 on richter scale, 44km bellow the land. Nearly, five of the 14 earthquakes occurred in Orissa were originated from Paradip, Sundargarh, Talcher, Deogarh and Puri since 1975.
When contacted, special relief commissioner (SRC) Pradipta Mahapatra clarified there is no loss of life or property in the state.
“The mild tremors that hit the state today has not caused any damage to human life and property, however we are in the process of collecting information from the district authorities for detailed report,” said Mahapatra.
Another SRC official said no one could predict about when an earthquake will strike, the government has engaged Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), which is conducting mock drills at places like Rourkela, Berhampur and Balasore on modalities of saving life during earthquakes.