MYSURU: A mysterious sound, akin to a bomb explosion, triggered panic among the people at different localities in the city on Thursday. While the suspicion of an earthquake grew stronger, the denial of any such occurrence that came from the Karnataka Engineering Research Station (KERS) near KRS dam in Mandya district where a seismic station has been set up, put to rest mounting worries.
The incident that occurred between 12.30 pm and 1 pm sent shock waves for sometime among the residents who ran out of their houses in panic. They shared their experiences with equally frightened neighbours. The sound triggered alarm at Vidyaranyapuram, K R Mohalla, Devaraja Mohalla, Kuvempunagar, Saraswatipuram, Dattagalli, K G Koppal, Jayalakshmipuram, Gokulam, V V Puram, Vijayanagar, Yelwal and several other localities.
Gowramma, a 60-year-old woman and a resident of Eighth Cross, ‘M’ Block, Kuvempunagar, told EThe New Indian Express: “I was all alone at the house when I heard a sound. Fearing danger, I ran out of the house only to hear my neighbour Sharadamma screaming, who is also a senior citizen. Initially, we mistook it for a transformer blast.”
Another neighbour Kalavathi who shared a similar experience said: “It sounded like an explosion mostly heard during blasting of stones.” Shivanand, a retired government employee who was visiting his sister’s house in the same locality, said, “I also experienced slight tremors.”
K V R Chowdhary, a senior geologist, who also heard a similar sound while in the office, said, “Following queries that came from different quarters, we had contacted Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Cell (KSNDMC), Bengaluru. They subsequently contacted KERS in Mandya where a Richter scale is available. There is no record of any quake on the scale.”
Chowdhary, who appealed to the people to maintain calm, also allayed fears saying that there is no possibility of an earthquake in the Deccan plateau due to the rough terrain with rocky surface.