Hille le

For the first time ever, felt tremors of an earthquake. Being on the 4th floor, so people got a little rocked naturally. It took me a couple of seconds to figure lower reaches were actually shaking, and it was over soon.

People just jumped up like jacks-in-the-boxes and looked about puzzled... What does one do? We don't have any safety drills Japanese style. Was this just one shock or the augur of more to come? Panic rushes kill more sometimes...

Sometimes, one just thinks the chairs are shaking - not really - psychological aftershocks.

News has just started filtering in - Rediff says it's a 5 pointish shock. Hopefully, not too much, if any, damage has happened. People calling up homes & friends to confirm & reassure. My folks didn't seem to have noticed, just like I didn't while sleeping on the 7th floor of a building in Mumbai ~12 years when the earth shook at Killari.

Update - 3:45
* These guys are fast: A Preliminary report
* Just remembered that when I looked at the floor clock at the time of the tremors, the clock showed an uncanny "3:14". Considering all the noise I've been making about Pi Day, almost eerie :-)

Update - 4:00
Egg on face - the link posted before seems to have been an earlier earthquake today ...

According to Rediff (link), it seems to have been centered near Koyna (in the same longitudinal range as Amsterdam Island earlier)

Update - 4:15
From the Rediff article:
"The quake measured 5.1. The epicentre of the quake, which occurred at 1514 IST, is in Koyna region. We are still looking into other details," an official at the Indian Meteorological Department in New Delhi said.

Koyna is very important for the region for reasons of power generation. Hopefully no loss of life or property there.