Kochi: Kochi felt the vibrations of the massive earthquake centred in Nepal on Saturday. Residents and visitors to places like Edappally, Kaloor, Kadavanthra, Thevara, Marine Drive and Panampilli Nagar reported shake to buildings around noon while some of them ran out of high-rises following this.
The Solar Commission which was holding its sitting on the eighth floor of the Housing Board building also stopped its sitting and Justice G. Sivarajan and CPI leader Pannyan Ravindran who was deposing before the commission also came out of the building. Both of them told mediapersons later that they also felt the shake. Pannyan, in a lighter vein, commented that it was a prelude to the political earthquake awaiting the state.
The staff working in various offices in the building also came outside. Those who came out of high-rises to the open in these places said that they felt the shaking for a few seconds as they were engaged in their work.
Reports of shake to buildings came from parts of Kodungalloor in Thrissur as well. However, no damage was reported from anywhere. The National Centre for Earth Sciences Studies at Thiruvananthapuram said that earthquake was not reported from any part of the state. Scientists at the NCESS said the vibrations of the quake might have caused panic among the people in parts of the state.
The Disaster Management Cell also discounted the theory that earthquake was felt in the state. The officials of the cell said that the shake was reported from buildings which were raised from ground having mud. Sekhar L. Kuriakose, head of the Disaster Management Cell, ruled out any tremors being generated locally.
“These were quake vibrations which were captured by the six digital seismographs and accelerometers jointly installed along the Idukki group of reservoirs by the State Disaster Management Authority and KSEB,” he said. Social media networks and WhatsApp were agog with posts and comments about tremors in Kochi. However, they all subsided by evening.
