BENGALURU: A loud explosion-like noise, reported first in Rajarajeshwari Nagar and other areas of South Bengaluru, had residents wondering what the source could be. As several people took to social media to ask if others had experienced the same, news of the noise, accompanied by a slight tremor, according to some, spread across the city.
After the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC) ruled out the possibility of an earthquake, the panic among residents reduced somewhat. But the tremor was a hot topic of discussion for all who felt it, as well as those who heard of it later. For some living in and around Jayanagar, JP Nagar, Mysuru Road, Nagarbhavi and surrounding areas, the event was serious enough to warrant exiting their houses in fear of an actual earthquake.
According to some residents, the noise was heard somewhere between 3.30 pm and 3.50 pm on Thursday. “I was sitting on the sofa in my house and felt the floor rumble through the sofa seat. It lasted only for a few seconds,” said Ashish Parthasarathy, a resident of Jayanagar. According to S Jagadish, Scientist (Earthquake), KSNDMC, their equipment had not recorded any vibrations. “It is some local noise. It could be due to some hydrological phenomenon, may be due to rain, there could have been a cave-in. But the reason is not geological,” he said.
With no further tremors however, the internet was soon filled with quips which attributed the event to everything, from underground drilling by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited to a sonic boom by HAL’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft. Someone even went to the extent of blaming it on the recent lunar eclipse.