Villagers spend night in the open after ‘tremors’

BIDAR: Villagers of Samatabad in Humnabad taluk of Bidar district spent a sleepless night out of their houses in the bitter cold for almost five hours after they were jolted out of their slumber by low frequency tremors early Saturday morning.

According to the villagers, they experienced slight tremors four or five times from 1 am to 6 am, forcing them to spend the night out in the open, and keeping themselves warm by lighting small fires.
Some houses in the village have developed cracks and some suffered minor damages, they said.
However, the Mines and Geology Department clarified that no earthquake has been recorded by the Richter Scale. The Richter Scale does not register minor earthquakes.

Officials of various departments, including Humnabad tahsildar Devendrappa Pani and Executive Officer of Humnabad Taluk Panchayat Govind Hasnabad, met the villagers and took note of their complaints.  
The villagers told the officials that they have been experiencing such tremors, accompanied by some sound, for a week.

They also showed the officials some of the houses which had developed cracks. When the tahsildar contacted the Mines and Geology officials, he was informed that “such minor quakes are common in many villages with rich limestone content and more underground water.” The quakes are a result of chemical reactions between the two. “There is no risk or danger from such minor reactions in the earth,” they told Pani.