BHUBANESWAR: Even as Nepal grappled with the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, a fresh earthquake triggered tremors which were felt in several districts of Odisha on Sunday morning leaving the people panic-struck.
An earthquake of moderate intensity, with a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale, was reported at 12.39 pm. While its epicentre was about 810 km from Bhubaneswar towards the north, people in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara felt the shakings for a few seconds.
As soon as the tremors were felt, people rushed out of their high-rise buildings at some places. The shopping malls in the Capital were immediately vacated by the management and closed down temporarily. It was the second tremor in the State in as many days, though lesser in intensity.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed the tremors and said the aftershocks of 7.9 magnitude earthquakes are felt for several days.
“Sometimes, earthquakes of such strong magnitude leave aftershocks for more than a month such is the energy released by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates near the Himalayan region. People should not panic but remain alert,” Director of IMD, Odisha, S C Sahu said.
With over 34 aftershocks reported after Saturday’s earthquake, the Ministry of Earth Sciences issued ‘Do’s and Dont’s’ for the people asking them to keep calm. During such event, the safest place is an open space, away from the buildings, it said and urged people not to spread rumours.
However, so far, there was no report of any people from the State stranded or trapped in Nepal apart from the five members of the India Under-14 football team, which was evacuated to New Delhi safely.