NAGPUR: Rumours of a huge explosion-like sound which could be heard in a radius of about 50-60km created a scare among citizens around Wardha, Akola, Amravati, Wardha and Nagpur cities from 2.30pm until late evening on Tuesday. Some called it a mine blast, some a meteorite hitting earth, some others a ball of fire from an UFO while others even believed it to be simply rumbling thunder sound.
In the end, it seems to have been an earthquake.
The earthquake recording observatory of Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Jabalpur recorded tremors of 2.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, 30km east-north eat of Akola at exactly 2.32pm. “The duration of the tremors lasted 90 seconds,” said the deputy director general of GSI central region, Vinod Kumar told TOI. The GSI Nagpur observatory somehow missed the event.
Experts at the Regional remote Sensing and Service Centre completely ruled out the possibility of a meteorite hitting the earth. “Any object nearing earth is continuously under vigilance of various domestic and foreign agencies including Nasa. But there is no information of any such object nearing earth in near future,” he said.
