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Quake swarm hits Saurashtra region

Vinod Mathew

HARIPUR (Junagadh), Nov. 20

ABOUT a year ago, it was the residents of Bhavnagar district in Saurashtra who were forced out of their placid lives by dozens of tremors each day. One year and a killer quake down the road, it is the turn of a cluster of six villages in Junagadh distric t, some 45 km from Veravel in the Saurashtra region.

Despite the tendency of some doomsday pundits to draw a parallel between Bhavnagar and Junagadh, the experts have described the present occurrence as an earthquake swarm, too shallow to be compared with what was witnessed in Bhavnagar a year ago.

The last three weeks saw as many as 1,029 tremors, none transcending 3.1 on the Richter scale, but enough to force a majority of the residents of these villages, numbering some 15,000 to desert their homes. According to the Junagadh District Collector, M s Sunaina Tomar, the worse part is as good as over as both the number of tremors and their intensity are receding by the day.

The situation is very much under control as many of the residents in Haripur, Chitrod, Chitravad, Bhalchel, Hiranvel and Sangodra, who had earlier fled their homes are either back or on their way back. There cannot be any parallel drawn between Bhavnagar last year and Junagadh now. The present manifestation was too numerous, going up to 150 or so a day and too shallow in nature to be compared with the larger tremors that rocked Bhavnagar last year, Ms Tomar told Business Line.

The tremors which went up to 151 on November 10, have now eased to around three dozen a day now. The rumbling sounds which used to last a few seconds and created panic amongst the villagers, have been attributed to the shallow nature of the tremors.

The 2,000-odd residents of the Haripur village are far from placated as they are fed daily on stories drawing strong parallels between the Bhavnagar tremors and what they are witnessing now. Most of them have opted to leave their houses and sleep in the open fields, perhaps adding to the drama as they can vividly hear the most minute of earths rumblings.

We would prefer not to take any sort of chance with our little children. Not after we all have seen what has happened on January 26. At that time also, no one was willing to listen to people of Bhavnagar, said a resident of the Haripur village.

According to the deputy director general of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Mr S.N. Bhattacharya, who visited the site on Sunday, the present occurrence was more akin to an earthquake swarm.

The IMD team was not able to explain why it was happening and said investigations were on to find the implication of the tremors. They, however, as good as ruled out another major quake in the region.