Gourab Das did not have an inkling. His anxious colleague rushed in, asking him to leave the building. Tremors were felt and even before some people had realised it, an earthquake had hit the city. Once outside he noticed several people had gathered, looking around anxiously to see what would happen next.

Even as office goers and city dwellers finished off a leisurely lunch, two tremors shook different parts of Kolkata and its adjoining districts on Wednesday. While one of the tremors were felt at 2.08 p.m., a milder one followed at 4.13 p.m. Tremors were also felt in Siliguri in North Bengal.

Panic-stricken commuters rushed out of their multi-storeyed buildings. Others were busy “tweeting” their experiences and observations.

“The tremors followed by the prompt evacuation provided a good opportunity to spend a nice 30 minutes after lunch checking out the crowd at Sector V,” a Tweet read.

According to Mr G.C. Debnath, director, Regional Meteorological Centre, Alipore, the first earthquake at 2.08 p.m. measured 8.5 on the Richter scale with the epicentre in Sumatra, Indonesia. The 8.1-magnitude second quake took place at 4.13 pm, he added. While many office buildings at the central business district of the city were emptied, alerts were sounded across districts.

The West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, said that coastal districts had been put on high alert.

In Kolkata, Metro Railway services were temporarily suspended following the tremors.

“Metro services were suspended from 2.42 p.m. As a precautionary measure, all Metro trains were vacated at different stations Engineers were asked to rush to the stations and take stock of the situation. Services resumed from 3.30 p.m.,” a Metro spokesperson said.

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