A total of eight low-intensity earthquakes in the range of 2.2 to 3.6 magnitude were experienced in Maharashtra’s Palghar district within four hours early on Friday. As per officials, tremors were reported in Palghar district’s Dahanu and Talasari tehsils.
No loss of life was reported so far.
“An earthquake of 3.5 magnitude was recorded at 3.29 am, which was followed by 3.5 and 3.6 magnitude quakes at 3.57 am and 7.6 am respectively,” said District Disaster Control Cell chief Vivekanand Kadam.
As per Dahanu Sub Divisional Officer Ashima Mittal, “Besides these, three earthquakes, which were above 3.0 magnitude, five others were experienced between 3 am and 7 am. Their magnitude was in the range of 2.2 to 2.8.”
Meanwhile, the local tehsildars have been asked to conduct an inspection of the villages.
Notably, low-intensity earthquakes have been hitting Dahanu and Talasari tehsils over the last few days. During the intervening night of Friday and Saturday last week, four such earthquakes were felt. One of them was recorded to be of 4.0 magnitude.
In the wake of frequent earthquakes recently, big tents have been erected on open grounds in the villages that fall under these two tehsils. Mittal said that local residents can shift to tents if they feel unsafe in their houses.
Meanwhile, the district authorities have put out an audio message, urging the villagers in Dahanu region to stay alert as they reside in “earthquake-prone” area.
Following the tremors that were felt last week, walls of some of the houses in Talasari and Dahanu had collapsed. Cracks were also seen in several other houses.
Mittal informed that disaster coordination committees have been constituted at the village level. Civil defence staff has been asked to stay ready for any kind of assistance.
“Mock drills will be carried out in the villages to make people aware of the dos and don’ts,” she said.
Palghar’s Dahanu area has been experiencing low-intensity earthquakes since November 2018, with most of them centred around Dundalwadi village.