Mild tremors were felt by residents of some villages near Gannavaram creating panic on Tuesday night. According to locals, the tremors occurred twice between 10.30 p.m. and 11 p.m. and residents of Mustabad, Davajigudem, Rayanagar and a few other villages in the mandal rushed out of their houses.
“At around 10.30 p.m., I noticed the bed in the house vibrating and informed my husband about it. We then found many other people who experienced the same running out in fear. Later at 11 p.m. we again felt the vibrations,” a woman of Davajigudem told reporters. The tremors reportedly occurred four times and lasted for a few seconds each time. “It was the first time we experienced such vibrations in our villages. We first thought it was something due to low flying aircraft at the Vijayawada airport. Later we realised that it was a tremor and came out of houses,” said P. Prabhakar, another resident of the village which is close to the airport. However, no one was injured or property loss was reported.
Shock reported
Multi Tasking Staff D. Siva Nageswara Rao at the Seismological Observatory of the Indian Meteorology Department confirmed the tremors. “The tremors occurred twice and were mild and the magnitude was very low. We have sent a report of shock to the IMD,” Mr. Rao told The Hindu .
However, no such activity was reported by the National Centre for Seismology which keeps the preliminary information of significant quakes time to time. Airport Director G. Madhusudhana Rao said all the operations at the airport were closed at the time. “However, no tremors were reported by our staff at the airport,” he said.
The Gannavaram mandal along with Vijayawada and nearby areas falls under the zone III (Moderate Damage Risk Zone). In May 2015, the city felt tremors days after the Nepal earthquake.
