Tremors felt at 2.15 p.m., alert sounded, widespread panic and traffic chaos as government strives to handle potential disaster
Wednesday post-lunch was not an ordinary workday for Chennaiites. Shortly after 2 p.m., employees from the various offices on Anna Salai spilled out onto the road. Most of them had felt a tremor, as the city shook at 2.15 p.m.
The tremors were caused by two massive quakes off the Indonesian waters, and were felt in several Indian cities including Kolkata, Kochi and Bangalore. A tsunami alert was soon issued, but withdrawn later in the evening.
The tremors led to people emptying out of multi-storeyed buildings across the city. Most of those who experienced the earthquake thought it had been a personal experience until others around them also commented on the strange swaying motion. Within seconds, people were not reachable on their mobile phones even as television channels aired alerts. At the Marina, several shops were preparing for the evening crowds when fisherwomen raised an alarm about an impending tsunami. Shops on the service lane of the beach decided to wait for the police to issue an alert.
Several couples on the beach were blissfully unaware of the tsunami alert. Around a dozen boys were bathing in the sea. But by 2.45 p.m., police jeeps arrived and announced on megaphones for people to clear out. Metal road dividers barred entry to the beach. Shoppers in T. Nagar and crowded on the roads, said residents.
Shuba, a resident of Ice House, had come friends to celebrate a birthday. “I remember the previous tsunami. If the water comes we can run away,” said the girl nonchalantly. But her casual attitude evaporated as a van-load of police personnel arrived.
By 3.30 p.m., the beaches were empty and the Chennai Corporation's commissioner P.W.C. Davidar inspected the arrangements on the beach. By 3.50 p.m., vehicles began piling up on Kamarajar Salai. Buses were overcrowded and people spilled on to the roads near bus stops.
At hospitals, staff members evacuated patients after the first tremors. Those who could walk made their way out of the buildings while others were carried on stretchers and wheelchairs to the yard. “I had my baby in my lap and suddenly everything, cots, even tables and chairs started shaking,” said a 30-year-old woman whose husband was admitted at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.
By 4 p.m., there was a huge traffic jam outside the hospital. Driving to the beach was a challenge as the entire stretch was chock-a-block with vehicles and people who wanted to see the tsunami. All entries to the beach were cordoned off, and police did not permit private vehicles on the service lane. Additional Commissioner of Police P. Thamaraikannan also visited the beach.
Around 4.19 p.m., the second tremors were felt. Television and news photographers who had found a vantage point on the lighthouse on the Marina to capture the tsunami as it occurred were jolted when the building swayed, first one way, then the other. The photographers and camera crew were asked to leave.
By 6 p.m., it became apparent that there was going to be no tsunami. In the hospital yards, patients and their attendants battled mosquitoes waiting for the hospital to declare the buildings safe. The beach remained out of bounds and the entire Marina was swathed in darkness.
Keywords: Indonesia quake, Aceh earthquake, India quake alert, Andaman and Nicobar quake, India tremors, tsunami warning, disaster preparedness
Citizens must know the phenomenon that is causing quakes can be different from natural plate tectonics and very well engineered by modern civilization through deforestation and dams.The dams exert water moments all round the centre of gravity of the water masses behind them. When an earthquake is about to occur,all the dams' archimedean lever effects will come on the focal point,thus anulling the applied moment at points other than the focal point.After the earthquake the vice grip will again be felt at various points around the centre of gravity via the surge waves of changes in reservoir contents dictated by electrical and other demands for water. Now the dynamic changes in applied surges may be felt violently at the points of attack after the earthquake, like the foundations of nuclear parks like Kudankulam and Kalpakkam. People must find out whether the Kudankulam and Kalpakkam reactors,turbines,pumps and pipes have been severely damaged.The surges rival nuke explosions. Too unsafe!
Suprisingly terrible English, not something we expect from the Hindu. Isn't any proof reading done?
...Shoppers in T. Nagar DID WHAT and crowded on the roads, said residents.
Shuba, a resident of Ice House, had come WITH HER friends to celebrate a birthday...
Our people are crazy. Eventhough I laugh reading that people want to see the tsumani and rushed towards the beach, remember the tough time had by the police patrolling these areas. I cannot imagine what would have happened, if tsunami had hit the area.
I am working in a private company in ethiraj salai. We were taking lunch when we felt the first jolt. During first jolt people were having surprise and it was a unique experience to believe it to be an aftershock of an earth quake. We waited outside our office for 15 minutes and returned to our seat. But by 4:15 pm there was another jolt and every one got panic because, this time everyone was expecting such tremors. People crowded on stair case and rushed out of the building.
Women employees started crying. Bachelors were making fun. I tried to call my wife. But mobiles were not working. I remembered my girl child who is just 9 years old. I felt i may leave this world without completing my duty. Just one thought made me weaker as time grows by. I took my bag and rushed to my home.
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