Magnitude 5.5 earthquake strikes Bangaldesh; tremors felt in Kolkata

Kolkata: An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter Scale hit south-west from BMD Seismic Centre, Agargaon, Dhaka in Bangladesh on Friday afternoon, causing panic among people.

Tremors were felt in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal as well.

As the tremors were felt, people rushed out of their residences.

"We were sitting on our sofa when we suddenly felt the tremors. We rushed out of our house. The sofa and fan were shaking, a bottle kept on a table fell down. All of us rushed downstairs...," said Swagata, a Kolkata resident, according to an ANI report.

The quake was felt at around 1.22 pm, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

The quake was felt at around 1.22 pm, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said, and left people in panic.

The trembler was recorded at a depth of 10 km below Earth's surface.

The epicentre of the quake was the Satkhira district of Bangladesh, located at some 100 km from Kolkata and barely 25 km from the bordering areas of Taki in North 24 Parganas district, he said.

There was no immediate report of any loss of life or major damage to property in the state, although employees of some establishments in the northern parts of Kolkata claimed that walls developed cracks as a result of the jolts.

The tremors lasted for some 10 seconds, throwing people in Kolkata into panic and tizzy, prompting them to scurry out of their buildings and seek the safety of open streets.

No aftershocks of the quake were immediately felt after the first bout of tremors.

Panic gripped government employees working at the state secretariat, Nabanna, the assembly house and at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, who continued to remain on the streets in apprehension of aftershocks.

Similar scenes were witnessed at the city's IT hub in Salt Lake and at multi-storey residential buildings in various parts of Kolkata.

"I was sitting on a sofa in the lobby of the Assembly House when I felt light-headed and realised that the seat was moving unnaturally. I realised this was an earthquake and rushed out of the building along with others. We are still standing outside in apprehension of aftershocks," Karabi Manna, the MLA of Haripal in Hooghly district, told a vernacular TV channel.

Manna, along with other MLAs, was at the assembly for official work with regard to the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled in March.

"I have never felt tremors lasting this long in my life. I was at the entry staircase of the building's portico when it happened. I have been receiving reports of people's experiences with the earthquake from various corners of my constituency. Thankfully, no information on damage has come so far," said Shyamal Mondal, MLA from Basanti in South 24 Parganas, a Bangladesh-bordering district.

Employees in government and private offices on the last working day of the week also shared their experiences of the tremors.

"I was trying to rush out of the building along with others when I tripped and fell. I was careful to use the staircase and not the elevator. The quake lasted for a significant amount of time, which perhaps caused the panic," said a private organisation employee with his office at a high-rise on Park Street in central Kolkata.

"The soft alluvial soil on which Kolkata stands may lead to the city suffering extensive damage if it gets hit by a major earthquake. It's better to be safe than sorry", added an IT employee in Salt Lake, who rushed out of his office and stood on the streets.

(With PTI inputs)