A mild earthquake was experienced in Shirahatti village near Athani in the Belagavi district on Saturday morning. It had a magnitude of 4.4 on the Richter scale.
Residents of Vijayapura, Jamakhandi, Shirahatti and nearby areas felt mild tremors. No damages or loss of life was reported from anywhere.
“We felt a sense of panic as everyone ran out of their homes and stood in the streets and open spaces,’’ said Bheemanagouda Paragonda, a resident of Athani.
“Residents were confused when the earth began to shake early in the morning. Some children who were still asleep were awakened by their mothers and taken outside. However, the effect did not last. The tremors ended in a few seconds,’’ he said.
According to a release by the State disaster management centre, the Epicentre was 2.3 km North-West of Kannur Gram Panchayat in Vijayapura. It lies on the border of Karnataka-Maharashtra.
The event happened at a depth of 10 kilometres at 06:22 am
Co-ordinates were at Lat: 17.0398°N; Long: 75.6818° E, the release said.
KSNDMC director Manoj Rajan appealed to the people not to panic as the quake was of moderate intensity.
“As per the Seismic Intensity map of the said Earthquake from the Epicentre, the intensity observed is moderate and the tremor might be felt up to a radial distance of 30-40 km from the epicentre. This type of earthquake would not create any harm to the local community as it is moderate, though there might be local vibrations felt. The epicentre falls in Seismic Zone III and the region is void of any structural discontinuities as per the Tectonic map. The community need not panic as the intensity observed is moderate,’’ the release said.
