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Experts find no evidence of recent ‘earthquake’ in Vijayapura dist

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Vijayapura: The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) has submitted a final detailed report about the earthquake that occurred in the first week of September in the district. The report makes it clear that the experts did not find any evidence of any seismic activity that could be related to the earthquake.

The seismic activity of magnitude 3.9 was recorded in the Seismology Observatory Centre at Almatti on September 4. The people in the four taluks of the district experienced tremors at least three times in the 24 hours on the same day. However, neither loss of life nor property damage has been reported in any part of the region at the time of the earthquake, according to the District Administration.

A couple of days ago, the experts of KSNDMC submitted a 22-page detailed report and made a few recommendations to the District Administration. The team has prepared the report after conducting a two-day field survey in the areas where tremors were felt in the district. The survey was conducted in the presence of scientists of the Disaster Monitoring Centre and officials of the Department of Mines and Heology and the District Administration.

Apart from this, the officials also conducted the survey in the places where the people complained about shallow sound. The team visited the following places namely Keerthinagar, Sai Baba Temple area and Tekadigalli in Vijayapura City, Toravi Gram Panchayat in Tikota Taluk, Hunshayal P B Gram Panchayat in Basavana Bagewadi Taluk and three other places in the same Taluk.

In a 22-page report the experts have stated that, “In the last four centuries the earthquake has been recorded only four times – first one in 1653, second one in 1973 of magnitude 4.0, third one was in 1993 of magnitude 6.4 and the last one was in 2021 of magnitude 3.9. The earthquake that occurred in 1993 caused more damage than the other three.

“Vijayapura is situated in the geological province of Dharwar Craton, which is an Archaean continental fragment of the Peninsular India. As per the seismic zonation map of Karnataka, the district falls in seismic zone II and III, II is earthquake free zone and III is moderate earthquake zone. The shallow sound reported in the region falls in zone II. This reduces the chances of occurrence of earthquakes. At the time of survey, more queries were about the shallow sounds associated with mild vibrations related to the local hydrological phenomena and not towards the tremors epicentred at Kolhapur. The earthquake epicentred at Kolhapur is the major reason for the local ground shaking in parts of Vijayapura and not due to any seismic activity in the region. There is no need to panic as the intensity observed is low and not destructive,” stated S. Jagadeesh, Scientific Officer of KSNDMC.

With regard to hollow sounds, the experts pointed out that it might be occurring due to water action in the bigger cavities of limestone and sandstone at larger depths and easily weathered by chemicals. The experts have also made it clear that there is no need in setting up the observatory temporarily in the region as the observatory at Almatti Dam can capture vibrations up to a radial distance of 220-300 kilometers.

The KSNDMC also made certain recommendations to the District Administration including geological studies in and around Vijayapura for mapping existing structural discontinuities, hydrological studies at micro level and seismic micro zonation studies as a measure of earthquake mitigation.

The District Administration authorities stated that it would submit the same report to the government and stress on the implementation of recommendations made by the experts and scientific officers of KSDNMC.

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