HYDERABAD: Twenty-four hours after tremors jolted coastal Andhra Pradesh, fears of another tsunami continued to grip people yesterday.
Though authorities did not issue tsunami warnings and scientists at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) said the Sunday night tremors, after the 7.2 underwater quake in the Nicobar island, were unlikely to trigger another tsunami, people in the coastal region spent the night in fear.
Many people who rushed out of their houses Sunday night returned next morning. But fishermen, who were the worst hit by the Dec 26 quake off the Indonesian coast that triggered the devastating tsunami, were too scared to venture into the sea
Cracks developed in some houses in north coastal districts of Srikakulam and Vijyanagaram. However, no loss of life was reported from any of the nine districts along the 1,000km long coastline.
People in areas like Gara and Venkatpuram in Srikakulam and few places in Visakhapatnam preferred to spend the night under the sky. Fearing another tsunami they had ran out of their houses in panic when the earth began shaking around 9.20pm.
“I was watching television when I sensed the tremors. I immediately alerted others and we all ran out of the complex,” said Rama Rao, a Visakhapatnam resident.
R Chadha, senior seismologist at NGRI, said the 7.2 quake was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami. He said the quake could have been an aftershock of Dec 26 tsunami, that caused widespread loss of life in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and other countries.
According to NGRI scientists, the region had experienced more than 300 aftershocks since the tsunami, triggered by strong quake of 9 magnitude. They said it would take decades for accumulation of energy to cause another strong quake, and another tsunami.
The tsunami had claimed 105 lives in coastal Andhra, especially in south coastal districts. The tidal waves killed about 200,000 people worldwide, including 10,000 in India. The epicentre of Sunday night’s quake was 500-600km closer to India’s southern Bay of Bengal coast than the earlier tremors on Dec 26, which triggered the devastating tsunami, says the US’ earthquake monitoring agency.
According to scientists, had the underwater tremors measuring 7.2, which hit Nicobar island at 9.12pm, generated a tsunami, the tidal waves would have reached Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh around 10.40pm.
That is if the waves had travelled at speeds similar to the Dec 26 tsunami at wave speeds of about 920-1,310km per hour.
Sunday’s quake and the Dec 26 quake, measuring 9 on the Richter scale with its epicentre off the Indonesian coast, were 10km below the sea floor.
Nagapattinam, which was the worst-hit in India in the Dec 26 tsunami had at the time been 1,940km from the epicentre, this Sunday night it was just 1,398km away.
Chennai was 1,430km from the epicentre, the Kalpakkam coast, housing five power generating nuclear reactors, was 1,420km away and the controversial Sethusamudram canal project about 1,200km.
The Sri Lankan coast of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, more than 1,600km from the epicentre on Dec 26, was just 1,200 km away this Sunday.
The Indian government said that there was no need to worry and no evacuation alert was on in the 1000km Tamil Nadu coast.
The Dec 26 tsunami killed about 200,000 people worldwide, including 10,000 in India. – IANS |
