Two back-to-back tremors felt in Nagpur district triggered panic among citizens on Tuesday afternoon. According to National Centre for Seismology, the first tremor of 2.3 magnitude was felt at around 3.05 pm near Matkazari area in Umred while the second one was of 3.0 magnitude was felt around 3.20 pm near Davha village in Umred. The epicentre of the first tremor was in 10 kilometre depth and the second one was felt in 8 kilometre depth. Both tremors were felt 20-30 km distance from Nagpur city. The brief shaking caused some people to react with an alarm. However, the available report did not provide details of any casualties, property damage or official assessment of the incident. Earlier in 2020 also, Nagpur district had witnessed tremors of 3.3 magnitude which was occurred at the depth of 15 kilometres.

 

A study of active faults conducted by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) a few years ago stated that, though Nagpur has not recorded any seismic activity of magnitude above 4 on Richter scale since 1938 and falls under safest earthquake zone area, possibilities of a low to moderate earthquake cannot be ruled out completely. The prediction to some extent has come true as the first earthquake was observed in 2020 and now two back-to-back in 2026 in the district. In 2020, two more earthquakes were felt close to Nagpur district. First tremor of 2.6 magnitude was felt on April 23, 2020, in Wardha which is 71 kms from Nagpur. The second earthquake in 2020 was of magnitude 3.3 on Richter scale occurred 129 km south of Akola.

 

“The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. It also measures mild tremors created through stone crushers and blasting in mines,” informed a senior GSI official to ‘The Hitavada’. The tremors though question the myth of Nagpur and its adjacent localities getting classified as a part of the safest Zone II in the classification by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). During the recent years, Nagpur has become seismically active like never before. In every few months, residents are experiencing tremors from many locations around Nagpur, though of low magnitude. As per observation, both epicentres were close to Matkazari Dam and Saiki Dam in Umred taluka. “Reactivation of basement rocks in the upper continental crust is evident and is a causative factor. There are small dams located reportedly near both the epicentres due to which reservoir induced seismicity (RIS) can be ruled out, owing to the insignificant volume of the water bodies.

 

The depth of focus being 8 kilometres below the surface further rules out this possibility,” said Dr Anjan Chatterjee, former Director, Earthquake Geology Division, Central Region and Additional Director General, GSI to ‘The Hitavada’. “Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) geophysical surveys need to be conducted by accredited Government departments to understand the region’s seismic reactivation if any. The last DSS profiling work in Deccan Volcanic Province areas which cover Nagpur too, was done by Dr Krishna Lal Kaila, scientist and his team from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad in 1988-89 about 40 years ago,” said Dr Chatterjee. The recent seismic swarm activities in and around Nagpur, Seoni, Mulug (Telangana near Godavari River bank) and Hingoli are a matter of concern and the authorities concerned need to wake up and act, he warned.