Very mild tremors were felt in Calcutta on Tuesday morning, as an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale struck deep inside the Bay of Bengal seabed.
The quake occurred at a depth of 91km in the Bay, said an official of the India Meteorological Department. This means the epicentre was 91km inside the seabed.
Tremors were also felt in other parts of Bengal.
Although the quake caused momentary panic among Calcuttans, there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The National Center for Seismology (NCS) reported that the quake occurred at 6.10am.
“EQ of M: 5.1, On: 25/02/2025 06:10:25 IST, Lat: 19.52 N, Long: 88.55 E, Depth: 91 Km, Location: Bay of Bengal,” the NCS posted on X.
In seismic parlance, a quake of magnitude 5 just about qualifies as “strong”.
“I was in the kitchen when I felt a hint of a tremor and my head spun. I was wondering what happened when a friend posted in a WhatsApp group that he felt the same and wondered if it was an earthquake. Soon, I got an alert on news channels about the quake,” said Behala resident Kajari Mitra.
Many took to social media.
“Earthquake felt in Kolkata. Quite big jerk. Anyone else felt too??” an X handle by the name of @SnehansuDev7 posted around 6.15am.
“Just saw there was an earthquake and tremors were felt in Calcutta. Who else, like me, felt nothing?” asked Facebook user Suparna Das.
“It was a deep focus earthquake that originated between 70km and 180km inside the seabed,” said Sankar Kumar Nath, vice-chancellor of Burdwan University and former professor of geophysics and seismology at IIT Kharagpur.
Monstrous underwater earthquakes are often linked to tsunamis, which are caused by sudden displacements of the sea floor.
“This quake was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami. Earthquakes of 7.5 magnitude and above can trigger tsunamis,” Nath said.