Two earthquakes of 2.8 magnitude strike Nagpur
| Date :27-Mar-2024 |
By Kaushik Bhattacharya
After Hingoli, now Nagpur district also witnessed two back-to-back earthquakes of 2.8 magnitude each on Tuesday afternoon. The first tremor was felt near Zilpi area at 2.53 pm while the second one was felt at 3.02 pm near Khedi village in Kamptee taluka of Nagpur district. Though the intensity of both earthquakes were very low, geologists and experts are raising concern about such swarm earthquakes, first of which happened in Hingoli district and now in Nagpur. According to the website of National Seismological Center (NSC), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, the epicentre of the first earthquake was 10 km deep while the second one was 5 km deep. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Nagpur, also reported the earthquake that took place in Nagpur on Tuesday afternoon. According to a senior geologist of Geological Survey of India (GSI), Nagpur, there is a possibility of reactivation of deep-located fault plate in the region which is causing such swarm earthquakes. However, there is a chance of tremors due to mine blasts in the region, but there is a need to study the exact cause of such tremors, the senior scientist told ‘The Hitavada’ on condition of anonymity.
Apart from these two incidents, Nagpur district witnessed one more earthquake on March 10, this year, which was of 2.7 magnitude and it was felt in Bhiwapur taluka. The March 10 earthquake also took place at a depth of 10 km. Nagpur is situated on the Zone II, signifying the safest zone based on the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), seismic zonation map of India. Today’s tremors, though mild in nature, defy the “safest zone” myth, and are a cause of concern for our urban agglomeration, said Dr Anjan Chatterjee, former Additional Director General, Geological Survey of India (GSI) and former Director, Earthquake Geology Division, Central Region. “The depth of focus though about 10 kms from the surface on the upper continental crust, could be seismically interrelated to the Hingoli tremors of March 21. The fault has almost no previously significant seismicity records, but now appears to be seismically reactivating,” said Dr Chatterjee. Earthquakes with depth of focus of less than 70 kms are considered as shallow focus earthquakes. Both micro earthquake (MEQ) recording and macro seismic ground surveys in the epicenter localities need to be done, former ADG advised.
Nagpur is not listed in the list of cities earmarked for Seismic Hazard Risk Microzonation (SHRM) studies by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), New Delhi. Greater Mumbai, Jabalpur, Indore, Nashik and Pune which are in the NIDM list were covered by the Geological Survey of India, Central Region, for SHRM studies. Nagpur with the seismic events on record needs to also be taken up for SHRM studies to understand its seismicity that can recommend mitigation measures, said Dr Chatterjee. The last recorded earthquake at Nagpur was on March 14 in 1938, with its epicenter at Gawilgarh (Satpura earthquake) with a magnitude of 6.3. Some weak houses at Nagpur showed cracks on their walls as a result. However, Dr Sandeep Shirkhedkar, Earthquake Consultant, believes that it was a swarm earthquake which is harmless. There is no major earthquake reported in last many decades in Nagpur and such small tremors will not cause any threat in near future. Meanwhile, there is no need to panic of such tremors, said Dr Shirkhedkar. As per the information received, there were no damage took place due to the tremors in the district. Whereas the district administration is ready to handle any disaster in near future.