Minor tremor recorded on TS-AP border nothing to worry about,says expert

HYDERABAD: The borders of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh near Suryapet district experienced a minor tremor of 3 magnitude on the Richter scale on Sunday morning.

The tremor that lasted a few seconds was felt at about 7.30 am near the Pulichintala reservoir in Andhra Pradesh with its epicenter at Chintalapalem in Suryapet district in Telangana. Several villages bordering both the states felt the mild tremor. No damage or casualties were reported.

Dr Purnachandra Rao, chief scientist and head, environmental seismology of National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) said, “These minor earthquakes keep occurring and are a common phenomenon, especially in the river belts.These river belts have faults or fissures in the ground because of the flowing water, which are prone for earthquakes, and Krishna and Godavari River belts are no exceptions. The river belts are essentially prone to earthquakes.”

Dr Rao said that areas which had reservoirs have a tendency to trigger earthquakes, owing to the water load. However, this reservoir-triggered seismicity was not established for the region and was only a possibility. Moreover, Godavari fault lines experience higher magnitude quakes as compared to the Krishna River, where the tremor was felt on Sunday.

Dr Rao urged the residents not to panic or fear as the region of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was not on any tectonic plate and was a very safe region. It had a very less possibility of a major earthquake of a large magnitude, he said.