Indore (Madhya Pradesh): An earthquake of 3.0 magnitudes on the Richter scale hit the Dhar-Barwani region in Indore division on Sunday noon.
According to the Regional Meteorological Department the earthquake took place at around 12:54 pm at a depth of 10 km.
“The centre of the earthquake was about 151 kilometers West South West from Indore i.e. Dhar-Barwani-Alirajpur border region. The magnitude of the earthquake was low due to which it couldn’t be felt in Indore while light tremors were felt in nearby areas of the centre of quake,” senior scientist of Indian Meteorological Department, Bhopal Dr Ved Prakash Singh told Free Press.
He added that the quake was of very low magnitude and as the depth of the same was very low i.e. 10 kilometers, tremors for a few seconds would have been felt by the people there.
“The Dhar-Barwani region falls under Zone I and Zone II of the seismic zones across the country where events of light to moderate quakes take place,” Dr Singh said.
It’s the second event in last two months in region
According to the senior scientist it is the second event of light to moderate quakes in the region in the last two months. Earlier, it was reported in the same region, in December.
“The region near Narmada River falls under the seismic zone I and II (Zone II-III as per new zone division) which used to get quakes of low magnitude and many times it wasn't even felt by the people. This time, it was felt in some of the areas near the epic centre only because the depth of the centre was only 10 kilometers which generally remains over 10 kilometers,” he added.
More prevalence after monsoon
The senior scientist said that the chances of such low magnitude quakes remain high post monsoon on this reason. There is no cause of worry as most of them couldn’t be felt. “The number of such events increases with the onset of monsoon as the water goes into the ground and seismic activities take place,” he added.
Social media tells Indoreans about quake
Most of the Indoreans were surprised by learning about the quake as they didn’t feel it even for seconds. “It was surprising to learn about the quake in Indore and nearby regions as we didn’t feel anything. We learnt about the quakes only through social media and news,” Neha Jain, a banker, said.
Epicenter near Chhachkua in Dhar
Barwani's sub divisional magistrate (SDM) Ghanshyam Dhangar told media that no information about the effect of tremor has been received so far. “The epicentre of the tremor was around Chhachkua of neighbouring Dhar district. There was no report of loss of life or property damage so far,” he added. Dhar district collector Priyank Mishra said the earthquake was not felt in the district and there was no information about any loss caused due to it.
