Tremors following the earthquake off the coast of Paradip, Odisha, on Wednesday night, triggered more curiosity than panic among city residents.
There were some panic phone calls to media offices about tsunami warning though that fear too died down soon.
The tremors were felt around 10 p.m., a few minutes after the earthquake struck 275 km, south east off Odisha coast — the Indian Meteorological Department website recorded the time as 9.51 p.m.
At the sea-facing colony of Nochikuppam, all concerns died down in a few minutes, and by 10.30 p.m., most residents returned to their homes. Nochikuppam was one of the parts of the city that saw seawater intrusion during the tsunami in 2004.
Residents in some other parts of the city experienced the tremors for a few seconds. “I had just gone to bed when it started rattling,” said Saraswathi Kuppuswamy, a resident of Shastri Nagar, Adyar. “My husband and I ran down four flights of stairs as soon as we realised it was an earthquake.”
Lakshmi Rajangam, Vanagaram resident, said she felt the dining table shaking. “My mother, who had gone to bed, said she felt the cot shake for a few seconds.”
Parthasarathy Srinivasan, a Kottivakkam resident, said his flight had just landed at the airport from Coimbatore, and he mistook the tremors for poor landing by the pilot.
“I did not realise till I entered the airport that what I experienced were tremors due to the earthquake,” he said.
Reports of tremors were reported mostly from the southern parts of the city only.
Some residents like G. Joseph of Pattalam learnt about the tremors only through social networks online. “I did not feel any tremor. I saw the TV scroll and started to ask around. Some of my friends had posted about it on Facebook.”
“I was watching Spiderman-2 with my daughter. I felt nothing,” said Crystal David, an Adyar resident.
