Earthquake of 4.3 magnitude jots Gujarat's Rajkot

Gujarat's Amreli district has been the epicentre of an 'earthquake swarm' as it has recorded nearly 400 mild tremors in the last two years, according to officials. A swarm is a sequence of mostly small earthquakes, which are usually short-lived, but can continue for days, weeks, or sometimes even months and often recur at the same location.

Rajkot (Gujarat): After earthquake havoc in Turkey and Syria, tremors were felt in Gujarat and the epicentre was recorded around 270 km west from Rajkot. The tremor, with a magnitude of 4.3, was felt at around 3:21 pm on Sunday. The Department of Seismology informed about the tremors of the earthquake recorded near Rajkot with a tweet.

Gujarat's Amreli district has been the epicentre of an 'earthquake swarm' as it has recorded nearly 400 mild tremors in the last two years, according to officials. A swarm is a sequence of mostly small earthquakes, which are usually short-lived, but can continue for days, weeks, or sometimes even months and often recur at the same location.

Residents of Amreli's Mitiyala village where many of these 400 tremors were felt, have started sleeping outside their houses as a precautionary measure so that they are not caught unawares in case of any major seismic activity. Explaining the reason behind the 'earthquake swarm' in Amreli district of Saurashtra region, Gandhinagar-based Institute of Seismological Research's (ISR) officiating Director General Sumer Chopra said that tectonic setup and hydrological loading are the reasons for the seasonal seismic activities.

In the 48 hours from February 23, Amreli's Savarkundla and Khamba talukas recorded four tremors in the intensity range of 3.1 to 3.4, making residents worried. The seismic activity in Amreli has been witnessed just after the recent devastating earthquake in Turkiye that killed more than 45,000 people.
In January 2001, a massive earthquake in Gujarat's Kutch district killed 13,800 people and another 1.67 lakh were injured. The earthquake had caused severe damage to properties in various towns and villages of the district.

Asked about the recent seismic activity in Amreli, Chopra said this is an "earthquake swarm" event in which small tremors keep on recurring. This is mostly seasonal. "In the last two years and two months, we recorded 400 mild tremors in Amreli, out of which 86 per cent were below the intensity of 2, while 13 per cent were between the intensity of 2 and 3 and only in five events, it went above three magnitude, he said. Most of these mild tremors are not even felt by the people. Just our machine records them, he said. (With agency inputs)