5th quake in a month in Palghar, govt on its toes

MUMBAI: Early on Saturday, Palghar felt tremors for fifth time in a month. Fortunately, like in the earlier four instances, the magnitude of the wee-hour earthquake was not much-2.9 on the Richter scale.

To study what is causing these repeated earthquakes in Palghar, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials plan to install a seismograph in the area to get real-time updates tremors and measure the shocks. Also, a team of IMD, along with state officials, will undertake a survey of the area on December 11 and 12.




"A seismograph will be placed next week and it will monitor earthquakes for the next few months. Currently, if the shocks are of a magnitude less than 2 on the Richter scale, the distant seismographs cannot measure them accurately. In Maharashtra, stations like Mumbai, Latur and Pune have seismographs," said K S Hosalikar, deputy director general of meteorology, adding that IMD Mumbai can measure quakes that are of magnitude 3 and above on the Richter scale.

"The not-so strong tremors can be felt locally, but not measured as the waves do not percolate. That is why we want to place a machine in Palghar to pick up small vibrations and know the frequency of the earthquakes," said Hoslaikar.