Five tremors rocked Chakalakonda village in Vinjamur mandal of Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district on Sunday, keeping people on tenterhooks.
Panic-stricken people came out of their houses as household articles changed their position.
However, there was no loss to life or property following the tremors.
The tremors occurred between 00.30 a.m. and 4. p.m. in the village in Vinjamur mandal on Sunday, CSIR-NGRI Chief Scientist D. Srinagesh told The Hindu . The tremors were of the magnitude of 1.2 to 2.1 on the Richter scale, he said attributing the ‘swarm-type’ earthquakes to plate motion stress.
“Things are settling down. However, we are keeping a close watch and put the district administration on the alert,” the scientist said.
The aftershocks came in the wake of six tremors of the magnitude of 2.3 to 1.2 that occurred between 8.41 a.m. and 12.45 p.m on Saturday in the mandals of Varikondapadu and Vinjamur and in the villages in neighbouring Prakasam district.
The Ongole region had witnessed tremors measuring 2.0 on the Richter scale on November 28, 2015. The NGRI had found that the region, where the Addanki-Nuzivid fault and the Gundalamma fault met was prone to seismic activity.
The region, which comes under the moderate damage risk zone, had witnessed 12 earthquakes in the past 30 years, including two major ones in 1967 and 1959, with magnitudes of 5.4 and 5 on the Richter scale, respectively. With a view to study the motion of the Indian plate in real-time, the CSIR-NGRI had located a Global Positioning System-based instrument at the C.S.R. Sarma College in Ongole.
‘No need to panic’
For a second consecutive day, minor tremors occurred in Anantasagaram, Varikuntapadu, Duttaluru and other areas in Nellore district for a few seconds around 9 a.m. on Sunday.
People felt sudden jolts in these affected areas briefly but everything became normal in a moment.
There was no damage to property or injury to anybody because of this.
Meanwhile, the district officials asked the people in the frequently micro tremor-prone areas not to worry about the incidents much as the scientists of the NGRI have ruled out any danger from these tremors. They said these low intensity tremors would eventually stop in course of time.
The officials also recalled the same type of minor tremors which used to occur in the Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills areas of Hyderabad city during 1995-`96 and how that place became normal later.
CSIR-NGRI Chief Scientist D. Srinagesh says tremors are of the magnitude of
1.2 to 2.1
