Tremors felt in Indian cities, buildings develop cracks

April 11, 2012

quake

Kolkata/Chennai, April 11: The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has issued Tsunami warnings for Indira Point, Great and Little Nicobar, Komatra and Katchal and Car Nicobar in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. An alert has been issued for Little Andaman, North Sentinel Island, Flat Island and Port Blair and several places in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Following the massive earth quake in Indonesia, tremors felt across West Bengal including the capital Kolkata in the afternoon around 2.14pm. Till now no major damage has been reported from any part of the state and the city but the tremor scared people who chose to rush out on the streets soon after feeling the quake.

In Kolkata, people working and staying in highrise buildings were the first to feel the tremor who ran down on the roads stricken by fear. The disaster management group of Kolkata Police was deployed in different parts of the city as a preventive measure. They mainly evacuated all the multi-storied buildings. People working in sector-V, the IT town of Kolkata were among the people who felt the tremor better than other citizens. Most of the IT majors asked the employees to vacate the building.

The huge rush on the roads caused traffic chaos and in several places cracks have been spotted in different buildings. APJ House, a known office building located on Park Street, developed major cracks. Members of disaster management group and fire brigade officials are taking stock of the damage to prevent further accident. "I was working on the 9th floor of the building. Suddenly for a few seconds I felt everything in front of me is shaking. Even my chair was also shaking. We took a couple of minutes to realise it as an earth quake and then rushed down," said Samik Banarjee, an IT employee at Salt Lake sector five.

Two high rises in central and south Kolkata reportedly leaned after the quake and experts rushed to the spot for inspection. Metro train services were also suspended for security. "After inspection of the tracks and system we will resume the service," said a Metro official.

Tremors have been felt in the hills of Bengal where little damage have been reported. However, no casualties have been reported so far. Officers of disaster management group are in touch with the officials of all the districts for update.

Two powerful after shocks following the first quake have created a Tsunami fear among the people in the coastal Bengal. District administrations in East Midnapore and South 24 Paraganas have asked people to move out from coastline for safety. Tsunami alert has been announced at Sagardwip and Kakdwip areas of Bengal coast.

Strong tremors in Chennai

Strong tremors were felt in several places in Tamil Nadu Wednesday following the massive earthquake in Indonesia, with people coming out of their homes and some schools moving students into open grounds.

According to reports, tremors were felt in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Nagapattinam and other areas. Coastal regions in the state have been put on high alert.

“I was lying on the floor reading a paper when I felt the shake. I immediately came out of the apartment and saw several others doing the same,” said W. Shobha, who lives in Chennai's Adyar area.

“We brought the children to the grounds once we felt the tremors,” a teacher at a leading school in South Chennai told IANS. The earthquake had its epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra and occurred at 2.08 p.m., the IMD said.

It led to a tsunami warning in 28 countries, including India, and brought back memories of the 2004 tsunami that saw more than 7,000 people being killed in Tamil Nadu's coastal areas.

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Agencies
January 12,2020

Mumbai, Jan 12: Thousands of citizens on Sunday congregated in Mumbai's suburban Jogeshwari to oppose the new citizenship law, the proposed NRC and NPR.

They also condemned last Sunday's violence on the JNU campus in Delhi, where masked men ran riot and attacked students. Leftist organisations had claimed RSS-affiliated ABVP's role in the attack, a charge denied by the students' body.

Former Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) general secretary Fahad Ahmed told PTI that they assembled under the aegis of 'Hum Bharat Ke Log' in Millat Nagar area.

"Prime minister Narendra Modi should call 56 students from across the country to debate on the CAA, NRC and NPR," Ahmed said in an apparent jibe at Modi's "56 inch chest" remark, which the latter had made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"Why the PM is not talking to us? Why is he not communicating? Even the Britishers used to talk to Indians whom they ruled, but our PM is not talking to poor people," he alleged.

Bollywood actor Sushasht Singh also spoke on the occasion.

"We are people of this country and such acts (CAA) are tarnishing the image of our country," he said.

At the gathering, people waved banners with slogans like "I Am From Gujarat, My Documents Burned in 2002", "No CAA, Boycott NRC, Stop Dividing India, Don't Divide us", "Save Constitution", written on them.

A large number of police personnel were present at the venue.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was notified on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.

Massive protests were witnessed against the CAA, mainly by the student community, since its passage by Parliament in December last year.

Opposition parties have been dubbing the CAA an "anti-Muslim" legislation, a charge being debunked by the government.

The Congress and other parties like the TMC have also opposed the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

Union home minister Amit Shah has said that the government won't rest until persecuted refugees are granted Indian citizenship.

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Agencies
July 2,2020

New Delhi, Jul 2: In the midst of India's tense border standoff with China, the defence ministry on Thursday approved procurement of a number of frontline fighter jets, missile systems and other platforms at a cost of Rs 38,900 crore to bolster the combat capability of the armed forces, officials said.

They said 21 MiG-29 fighter jets are being bought from Russia while 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft will be procured from Russia. The ministry has also approved a separate proposal to upgrade existing 59 MiG-29 aircraft.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The procurement of 21 MiG-29 and upgrading of the existing fleet of MiG-29 are estimated to cost the government Rs 7,418 crore while purchase of 12 new Su-30 MKI from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will be made at a cost of Rs 10,730 crore, the officials said.

The DAC also approved procurement of long-range land-attack cruise missile systems with a range of 1,000 KM and Astra Missiles for Navy and Air Force.

The officials said cost of these design and development proposals is in the range of Rs 20,400 crore.

"While acquisition of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted, addition of long-range land attack missile systems having a firing range of 1000 KM to the existing arsenal will bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force," said a defence ministry official.

"Similarly induction of Astra Missiles having beyond visual range capability will serve as a force multiplier and immensely add to the strike capability of the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force," he said.

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Agencies
January 26,2020

Guwahati, Jan 26: Four powerful grenade explosions--three in Dibrugarh and one in Charaideo districts--rocked Assam Sunday morning as the country celebrated Republic Day, police said.

In Dibrugarh district, an explosion took place at Graham Bazar and another beside a gurudwara on A T Road, both under Dibrugarh police station.

Another explosion rocked the oil town of Duliajan whose details are still awaited, police said.

Another explosion rocked Teok Ghat under Sonari police station of Charaideo district, they said.

Senior officials have rushed to the explosion sites and details of casualty are awaited, police added.

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