In the wake of earthquake off Indonesian coast, an alert had been issued in Dakshina Kannada on Wednesday. As a precautionary measure, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Dr N S Channappa Gowda convened a meeting of various agencies to gear them up to face any events of striking.
Urging the people of DK district not to panic, the DC said that the intensity of the earthquake that was experienced at certain pockets of Mangalore city was mild and the police, fire service, home guards have been alerted. Three teams have been constituted to keep a vigil at Bengre, Ullal, Sasihithlu and Sulthan Bathery. Schools have been identified to shift those who reside in the sea shore to the safer places in case of emergency.
Measures will also be taken to avoid rush of public to the sea shore and beaches, out of curiosity, he said.
“KSRTC buses have been kept ready to evacuate the people to safer places in case of emergency. Even cooks have been identified,” he said
The DC has called upon the officials to keep ready three boats in NMPT and a boat belonging to the fisheries department to tackle any kind of disaster. The meeting was attended by Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh, Additional DC Dayanand, MCC Commissioner Dr Harish Kumar, Assistant Commissioner Dr Venkatesh, Tahsildar Ravichandra Nayak and others.
Tremors
Buildings in Light House Hill, Kodialbail, Kuloor in Mangalore felt the tremors and panic gripped people ran out of the buildings immediately.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, a staff of DC office said “I was sitting in a chair and the chair shook for few seconds.”
Ramdas Ekkur who is working in Kuloor said “I was sitting in a chair after having my lunch. Suddenly I could feel the movement. Initially I thought was imaginating but I soon realised that it was earthquake.”
Lawrence D’Souza who resides in an apartment at Light House Hill said “I rushed to the ground floor immediately after I felt mild tremor.”
A Radio Jockey whose office is situated in a commercial complex at Light House Hill said “I could see chairs, mikes and computers shaking in my office at 2.15 pm and at 4.15 pm. I work in the sixth floor of a building. All my colleagues and those who are working in other floors rushed to the ground floor for safety.”
Meanwhile, Kavya Suvarna, a student of SDM College of Management said that she was unaware of the whole issue because she was in the examination hall writing her paper. “I minute I was out there was some sort of tense atmosphere in the college and everyone was talking about some tremor felt in Mangalore. I gathered information and first called my relatives at home to know if they were safe,” said Kavya.
Udupi
Udupi too experienced tremors around 2.30 pm. However the tremors were experienced only by the people who resided and worked in the top floors of multistoried buildings.
Panic-struck people were seen rushing outside especially in Manipal. Manipal Technologies Employees Harish Nayak and Sudesh Nayak sharing their experiences with Deccan Herald informed that initially they felt that they dizzy due to long hours of work but soon realised that it was not.
“I actually changed my chair to know actually what is happening. Even then I felt that slight tremor. With this I casually asked my colleague who agreed that he too experienced the same. We all rushed out of our office,” said Sudesh Nayak.
Similar experiences are reported from Manipal Institute of Technology.
Udupi DC Dr M T Reju said “we have intimated all officials to be alert in case of emergency. Rescue teams have been kept ready. Tremors were felt in some parts of the district like Udupi and Kundapur,” he added.