Idukki district experienced a series of mild tremors in the wee hours of Saturday.

The tremors were felt at Upputhura, Velliamattom, Chappath, Vandiperiyar and other parts of in Idukki district and Poonjar, Erattupetta, Adukkam of the neighbouring Kottayam district. No damage has been reported so far.

Altogether four tremors are reported to have occurred in the district between 3.15 am and 5.44 am. Information on the magnitude of the tremors were not available from the research stations of the State Electricity Board at Pallom and Moolamattom which oversees its network of seismographs even five hours after occurrence of the first tremor.

Similar was the situation with the weather bureau also. The control room of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department in Thiruvananthapuram was not even aware of the tremors having occurred in Idukki district.

About two dozen tremors had occurred in the Idukki distirct during the past five months and the recurrence of the tremors has raised concerns about the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam in the district.

Tremors Shake Parts of Kottayam

For the second time in a week, tremors of slight magnitude shook parts of Kottayam district bordering Idukki in the early hours of Saturday.

Poonjar, Erattupetta, Poonjar Thekkekara, Teekoy, Aukkom, Wagamon, Kondoor areas in the district bordering Idukki felt the impact by 3:15 am. According to P C George, local MLA, the tremor came with a deep resonate rumble shook the objects in the room. The first shock was followed by after shocks at least three times, he said.

There were reports from Wagamon area of walls of buildings getting cracks during the tremor, he said. Cracks have formed on the walls of St Sebastian’s church During the quake, he said.

Meanwhile, MetCentre at Thiruvanthapuram said thy have recorded tremor of less than 2.7 magnitude. They were yet to ascertain the epicentre. Tremor of 3.1 had shook the same areas on November 18 morning.

Source : The Hindu