At 6.39 p.m. on Sunday, an earthquake of 3.6 magnitude hit the Dahanu taluka in Palghar district. As panic-struck villagers thought they could settle down, another tremor of 3.0 magnitude occurred at 8.59 p.m. Hundreds of such tremors have been felt in the area since November 2018 but the one on Sunday evening was of the highest magnitude reported so far.
The villagers are spending each day in fear of a much bigger and disastrous earthquake, even as scientists from the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) of Ministry of Earth Sciences remain puzzled by the unusual and unexplained seismic activity.
“We don’t expect earthquakes in such high frequency in the area. Sometimes, such activities occur and stop at some point. But that’s not so in Palghar. The two tremors that occurred on Sunday have left us more concerned,” scientist and NCS director Vineet Kumar Gahalaut told The Hindu . “We are extremely puzzled. The area has not had recent rainfall which may trigger such activity and the water reservoirs are far from the area. We have not found any factors that could influence such activity,” said Mr. Gahalaut adding that he has asked scientists to find out if any mining activities had happened nearby.
Kiran Narkhede, scientific assistant, IMD, with a seismometer
The villagers say that they have been experiencing tremors since November 4 last year, on some days, up to 40 tremors. However, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) states that most of the tremors have been below 2.5 on the Richter scale. “About 15 tremors were above 2.5 and five have been above 3.0 magnitude. Sunday’s 3.6 magnitude has been the highest so far,” said Kiran Narkhede, scientific assistant, IMD, who went to Dhundalwadi village in Dahanu taluka last month to set up an observatory which includes a seismometer and a digital seismograph to record the activity. The intensity of earthquakes up to 4.9 magnitude are classified as slight; between 5.0 to 6.9 as moderate; between 7.0 to 7.9 as great and 8.0 and above as very great. All tremors felt in Palghar have been thus considered very mild.
The tremors have been felt over about 30 to 40 km which consists of nearly 25 villages including Dhundalwadi. “The vibrations from Sunday’s earthquake were felt up to the Talasari taluka and Umbergaon in Gujarat as well,” said Mr. Narkhede.
Dhundalwadi’s sarpanch Shivaji Mahale said there had been no tremors for the past two weeks. As a result villagers had gone back to live in their houses instead of the makeshift tents built in the open area. “We thought it was all over. But a big one occurred on Sunday evening when we heard a thud and felt severe vibrations. All villagers rushed out of their houses. Luckily no one was hurt,” said Mr. Mahale adding that the tremors continued through the night.
