Two mild tremors were felt in India, measuring 4.5 and 4.9 on the Richter scale, in the west Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, officials confirmed.
The first quake was in the Rann of Kutch area in Gujarat (4.5). The second, slightly sharper one, was felt in the Satara district of Maharashtra.
"The first tremor was felt at 8.53 am in Gujarat with the epicentre in Bhuj," said Rajeev Nair, Director of the Met Department at Mumbai to IANS. Apparently two hours later, at 11.05am, another quake was felt - with the epicentre in the Satara district of Maharashtra.
However, there have been, as yet, no reports of casualties or damage.
"We are still awaiting details of the impact of these two tremors, but so far there are no reports of any human casualties or damage," Nair added.
According to an NDTV report, tremors were also felt in parts of Karnataka bordering Maharashtra, including Belgaum and Gulbarga.
"These are too minor earthquakes. Small earthquakes occur in Indian subcontinents. There are various sources and mechanism of earthquakes. A scientific investigation needs to be still carried out," RS Dattatreya, Director of Seismology Division, Meteorological Department was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Hollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan showed his concern via social networking site Twitter: "Earthquake in Mumbai!! Did you feel it... I did! Shutters and building shook twice for few seconds... All good here... all else?"
Bhuj has a rather miserable reputation with earthquakes - back in 2001 a massive quake took the lives of some 20,000 people while injuring167,000 and destroying nearly 400,000 homes.
Earlier this week, an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale hit off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province, resulting in mild quakes and aftershocks across Southeast Asia and as far as Sri Lanka. The series of quakes and aftershocks, many of which were above 8.0 themselves, resulted also in widespread tsunami concerns. A warning, later withdrawn, was issued to 28 countries following the earthquake.
Although initial reports from government agencies and research institutes spoke of a tsunami, later research confirmed the quake as a "slip-strike" event, meaning it was a horizontal displacement of a tectonic plate that triggered no drastic waves; unlike the 2004 event which was an undersea mega-thrust earthquake that caused a tsunami.
Source:IBTimes
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