Bhubaneswar left stirred and shaken

Bhubaneswar, April 19: Mild tremors rocked the capital city in the wee hours today. Although no damage or loss of life was reported, the earthquake measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale has set alarm bells ringing.

Official sources said the earthquake that occurred at 3.14am had its epicentre about 50km south-south-west of the seismological observatory here.

Pointing that low intensity earthquakes have been occurring in the state for the past few years recurrently, sources said the government had to be on its guard as cities such as Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and the Hirakud dam fell in seismic zone III.

“Cuttack and Bhubaneswar had experienced tremors last year as well. In 2009 an earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale had hit parts of northern Orissa,” said a government official adding that any complacency on this account could be dangerous.

Sources said the industrial towns of Angul and Talcher also fell in seismic zone III and could suffer major damages in the event of a high intensity quake.

“At present, the only agency on which the state depends in the event of disasters such as earthquake is the Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority. But they too, appear to have limited expertise in the matter,” said the official.

While the earthquake might be a cause of worry, the people of Bhubaneswar also had something to cheer about as rains triggered by a mild cyclonic system, which was officially described as ‘upper air trough’, brought much-needed relief from the sweltering heat.

Weather officials said that almost the entire state had benefited from the rains caused by an ‘upper air trough’ that stretched from sun-Himalayan Bengal to Telengana taking Bihar, Jharkhand and interior Orissa within its sweep.

While the capital city had recorded 3.0mm of rain by afternoon, figures for other parts of the state were being compiled till the time of reporting.

Officials said that the weather was likely to remain cool and pleasant for the next few days under the impact of the system.

This is good news even for the government that had been worried about the rise in mercury, which was hovering around 40 degree Celsius in certain parts of the state. The administration was already bracing up for possible sunstroke and heat related deaths.