With the recent calamity in Turkey and Syria highlighting the humongous threat posed by earthquakes, it has come to light that a district in India has experienced almost 400 earthquakes over the last 2 years.
Amreli district in Gujarat has been the epicentre of an 'earthquake swarm', which refers to a sequence of mostly small tremors which can continue for days, weeks, and even months. Between 23 and 25 February, some areas in Amreli recorded 4 quakes with magnitudes ranging from 3.1 to 3.4.
Residents of the Mitiyala village in the district have started sleeping outside their houses due to the frequent temblors, as per news agency PTI.
In 2001, a massive earthquake in Gujarat's Kutch had killed 13,800 people and injured 1.67 lakh.
Asked about the recent seismic activity in Amreli, Gandhinagar-based Institute of Seismological Research's (ISR) officiating Director General Sumer Chopra told PTI that this is an "earthquake swarm" event in which small tremors keep on recurring. This is mostly seasonal.
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"In the last two years and two months, we recorded 400 mild tremors in Amreli, out of which 86 per cent were below the intensity of 2, while 13 per cent were between the intensity of 2 and 3 and only in five events, it went above 3 magnitude,” he said. “Most of these mild tremors are not even felt by the people. Just our machine records them,” he said.
With a caveat that “earthquakes cannot be predicted”, Chopra said the possibility of a major earthquake is low when the 'earthquake swarm' is taking place.
(With PTI inputs)