CHENNAI:The 7.1 Richter scale quake in northeast Nepal close to the China border caused a ripple in distant Chennai on Tuesday, with the seismic waves causing panic among residents in various parts of the city.
Residents from areas including Besant Nagar, Teynampet, Santhome, Valasaravakkam, Triplicane and Kodambakkam said they felt mild tremors.
People panicked. In Kodambakkam, staff of a few offices and residents of apartments scrammed out of the buildings as the vibrations continued. Only people working or living in high-rise buildings felt the tremors.
“The tremors were more intense than the last time when the first quake struck Nepal on April 25. Almost everyone in the building felt it and this time, even the residents of all nearby apartments felt it and ran out,” said an MNC employee working in Centennial Square building in Kodambakkam.
“I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard the clang of utensils. The apartment was definitely shaking,” says Geetha of Triplicane. A Seismology Unit official of Regional Meteorological Centre here confirmed the seismic waves. However, he said it was too early to predict the intensity of the seismic waves.
Unlike quakes that are measured by their magnitude, the seismic wave is measured by its intensity ranging from 1 to 11.
“The intensity would be around 11 at the epicentre and Chennai could have experienced an intensity of three,” said the official.
