Calcuttans only have their lucky stars to bank on if a calamity like an earthquake strikes the city.

The disaster preparedness of the city, to quote the minister responsible for coordinating rescue and relief work, is “primitive”.

“Our disaster management is at a primitive stage. There is hardly any coordination among the agencies that are supposed to jump into action immediately after a disaster strikes. A system like a hot line integrating the civil defence headquarters, police, fire services and hospitals should immediately be in place,” civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee said.

Lack of coordination among government agencies was evident in the description of the intensity of Monday night’s quake — “intense,” according to the Alipore Met office, and “mild”, if the police are to be believed.

As as soon as tremors are felt, the Met office should get in touch with the civil defence department which, in turn, should alert its volunteers as well as the police, fire brigade and hospitals. But Mukherjee’s men did not stir on Monday night as there was no word from the Met office.

“We did not send out any alert as it was apparent that the tremors could not cause any damage to the city,” said an official in the Regional Meteorological Centre.

With the Met and civil defence experts sitting tight, the other key arms of the government had no clue to what was happening on the ground. When Metro called the police control room 15 minutes after the quake, which struck at 1.26am, the response was: “There were a few calls but we didn’t feel any tremor here. Was there really an earthquake?” Calls to the Met office around 1.40am went unanswered. Director G.C. Debnath said: “Officials were busy recording the tremors.”

While the men who matter were in the dark during an emergency, Calcuttans on Twitter were exchanging updates on the button. “... the sofa’s shaking! EARTHQUAKE!!,” twitted Burbleon almost in real time. Rungs quipped: “It was like Waves, not what I thought earthquakes were. As if I was on a vessel at Sea.”