Vijayawada: Tremors were felt in several areas of Andhra Pradesh for nearly two to three seconds in the morning on Wednesday, forcing people to run out of their homes and flats.
The National Centre for Seismology explained that an earthquake measuring 5.3 on Richter scale occurred at 07:27:02 hrs in Mulugu district (Telangana) with its epicentre at 18.44 degrees north and 80.2 degrees east, at a focal depth of 40km.
The epicentre was approximately 85km northeast of Warangal in Telangana, 65km southwest of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh, 218km northwest of Hyderabad and 212km north of Vijayawada.
“The epicentre of the earthquake lies within the northwest-southeast of Godavari Fault, which is a major normal faultline in the region. The expected intensity of the earthquake ranges from IV to V in the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. Responses from more than 100 people were received from Telangana and neighbouring states including Andhra Pradesh,” it added.
Under the influence of the earthquake, tremors were felt all the way from parts of NTR district to Visakhapatnam district, measuring less than three on the Richter scale.
Andhra Pradesh state disaster management authority’s managing director Ronanki Kurmanath said in a statement: “Low-intensity tremors were felt in several parts of AP. Out of 12 levels of intensity, AP witnessed only the second, the feeble level.”
There would be no major impact in cases where an earthquake is found to be at a feeble level. AP was in a safe zone from the seismic perspective, he said.
Some people in and around Vijayawada said they felt the tremors. Some said they didn’t. Retired bank employee V. Johnson, who lives near MG Road, said, “We did not feel any tremor. We live in an apartment and came to know of it only through the media.”
People in Nuziveedu in Eluru district, Devarapalli and Gopalapuram in East Godavari district, some areas in Rajamahendravaram, the agency areas like Coonavaam, VR Puram, Yetapaka and Chintur in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, and parts of Visakhapatnam district felt the tremors.
