Tremors felt in places across Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: An earthquake, with its epicentre more than 2,000 km away from Odisha, drove denizens out of their homes as the fear of a tsunami came back to haunt them here on Wednesday.As people ran for safety, some multi-rise buildings reported cracks.With a tsunami alert issued for 28 countries, including Odisha, the State Government ordered collectors of six coastal districts to remain in a state of readiness and evacuate people from the shorelines.However, the tsunami alert was withdrawn after the mandatory arrival time passed by.At 2.09 pm, the first waves of tremors were felt across the State.Residents of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Paradip, Jagatsnighpur, Ganjam and Gajapati felt the effects of the earthquake, which read 8.5 on the Richter Scale.While some found the buildings trembling, others saw the furniture shaking only to realise seconds later that it was an earthquake.As soon as the realisation dawned, people started to run out of their homes.Within minutes, people of multi-rise office-buildings such as Fortune Towers had moved out to safety.Residents of apartments too reacted in a similar fashion.In some buildings, cracks appeared though no major damage was reported.With the apprehension of the tsunami, rumour mills went on the overdrive too.Reports started circulating that some staff jumped out of a multi-storeyed government building in Unit V area, but it was found to be baseless.As the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) issued tsunami alert, following reports of aftershocks, the Government convened a high level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to take stock of the situation.The Government appealed to the people not to panic since most of the warnings were for southern States.In fact, only “watch” advisories were issued in six districts __ Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore __ the least of the categories, by the INCOIS.Though there were predictions of certain rise in sea waves, after six hours had passed, nothing happened and the administration breathed easy.Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra advised fishermen not to venture into the sea.Since Bhubaneswar has experienced tremors in the past, the occurrence prompted experts to ask if the disaster reduction programmes of the State Government were in place to meet the exigencies.An Urban Earthquake Vulnerability Reduction Project and a School and Hospital Safety Programme had been launched in the State Capital a few years ago but it is now time to make an appraisal of their effectiveness, urban expert Piyush Rout said