BHUBANESWAR: An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 on the Richter Scale hit the Bay of Bengal on Monday morning. According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), the earthquake occurred at about 8.32 am.
The depth of the earthquake was 10 km below the sea level, about 370 km south-southeast of Haldia in West Bengal, 409 km south-southeast of Kolkata, 421 km east of Puri, 434 km east-southeast of Bhubaneswar and 489 km south-southwest of Belonia in Tripura.
However, there were no reports of flooding in the coastal districts of Odisha due to the earthquake. There was no damage in the coastal areas too. NCS has not said whether the earthquake could cause a tsunami or not. On August 24 last year, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake had occurred in the Bay of Bengal over 300 km off the coast of Chennai.
There are a number of fracture lines or fault lines under Bay of Bengal and the accumulation of sediment from various river systems might trigger a slip in the fault line, which can lead to an earthquake, further resulting into a Tsunami, depending on the intensity of the earthquakes, said experts in earth sciences.
Associate professor of School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences of IIT-BBS Sandeep Pattnaik said, "There are fault lines in the Bay of Bengal and earthquake may occur due to mild dislodging."
Pattanaik, however, pointed out that the Central Bay of Bengal is not an active zone for earthquakes like Indonesia. Indonesia lies on the Pacific ring of fire, which makes it prone to earthquakes, he said.