Wednesday’s tremors in some areas of Srikakulam district have once again brought to the fore vulnerability of the region to earthquakes.
D. Srinagesh, NGRI scientist and head of the seismology observatory said the mild tremors felt in Srikakulam were a result of stress generated when there was tectonic plate motion resulting in collisions with the Eurasian plate in the north. “Stress migrated into plate interiors and whenever there is a little fall, it gets aggravated resulting in small earthquakes,” Mr. Srinagesh explained.
Tremors measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale were experienced by residents of Kaviti, Itchapuram, Mandasa, Sompeta and Kanchili mandals in Srikakulam for about 10 to 15 seconds in the early hours of Wednesday. A month ago, mild tremors were felt near Narsaraopet in Guntur district causing panic among villagers. Guntur witnessed tremors in February while Vijayawada and its surrounding areas felt the impact of the 7.9 magnitude temblor that shook Nepal a few months ago. A seismic study conducted by the Earthquake Engineering Research Centre of the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad confirms that ‘as per seismic hazard map of Bureau of Indian Standards’, 34 per cent of the area in the undivided AP is susceptible to quakes of the intensity VII which is similar to what was witnessed at Bhuj in 2001 (6.9), according to officials. The seismic history of AP shows that the State has experienced earthquakes of magnitude up to 5.7 on the Richter scale i.e., Vizianagaram (magnitude 5.5) in 1917, Ongole (magnitude 5.4) 1967 and Bhadrachalam (magnitude 5.7) in 1969.
In all, 80 earthquakes occurred between 1800 and 1999 in the new State. Of them, 43 were of the magnitude less than four and 28 of them were less than five and only nine of them were greater than five magnitude, officials said.
Expert attributes the phenomenon to tectonic plate motion resulting in collisions with Eurasian plate
