A team of scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) will, on Sunday, visit the villages that were frequently hit by the low-intensity earthquakes for the last 10 days, said Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner Vijaya Jyothsna.
Addressing a gathering at Hosalli (H) in Kalagi taluk, one of the tremor-hit villages, on Saturday, the officer said the expert team from the Hyderabad-based premier geoscientific research organisation would visit the tremor-hit villages and take stock of the situation by conducting a study. Ms. Jyothsna was in the village as part of her village-stay programme.
Low-intensity tremors
“The intensities of the tremors reported from different Kalaburagi villages in the past 10 days range from 1 to 3 on the Richter Scale. Since these are the low-intensity tremors, there were no major damage except for the collapse of five houses at Gadikeshwar village,” Ms. Jyothsna said.
On the precautionary measures taken in the tremor-hit villages, Ms. Jyothsna said the district administration had opened relief centres in the villages and was providing all basic needs, including food and blankets, to the people in need.
“We have formed six teams comprising the officials and Public Work Department engineers. These teams are surveying the damage in each affected village. They would also help the residents in getting their damaged houses repaired. The damaged houses of the economically poor people will be repaired or rebuilt by the administration itself,” she said appealing to the people to cooperate with the officials.
Attempting to inculcate scientific knowledge about tremors and infuse confidence among people, Ms. Jyothsna called upon the people not to be frightened but be cautious.
“In the matter of floods, we know the time and the areas to be hit. Thanks to the coordinated efforts from the different government departments and weather forecasting agencies, we can have a rough idea of the time floods and the areas they affect and take precautionary measures well in advance to protect the people. However, in the matter of earthquakes, it is unfortunately not possible. We cannot predict the place and time of an earthquake and it is the limitation of science,” Ms. Jyothsna said.
Grand welcome
The villagers offered a grand welcome to Ms. Jyothsna by playing traditional drums and showering flowers as she entered the village for her village-stay programme. Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat Dileesh Sasi, Assistant Commissioner Mona Roat, Deputy Director of Land Records Shankar, Public Works Department Executive Engineers Mallikarjun Jeratagi and Krishna Agnihotri, Deputy Director of Agriculture Samad Patel and other senior officers were present.