A three-member Central Disaster Response Team comprising senior geologists from Geological Survey of India (GSI) and professor of geology from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) conducted a preliminary survey of villages affected by the earthquake in Pernambut town, Vellore on Wednesday.
The team, which consists of Animesh Thakur, Assistant Geologist of GSI (Hyderabad), Sivakumar, Senior Geologist of GSI (Chennai) and G.P. Ganapathy, Professor, Department of Geology of VIT, surveyed Tharikadu village, the most affected hamlet in Pernambut town since last week. The team also interacted with residents of the village and inspected the damaged houses. .
“We will conduct an instrumentation study at select spots in the affected region in the coming days. Based on the sound recordings from these spots, we will know the cause of the incidents that happened in these villages last week,” Professor Ganapathy told The Hindu.
This is the second visit by the team to these villages after four years since 2017, when residents reported earthquakes in the region. Back then, officials said the quakes could have been caused by a reactivation of existing fault lines, which travel for about 135 km along Tirupattur, Ambur, Vaniyambadi, and Andhra Pradesh.
Wednesday’s visit comes after Pernambut experienced slight tremors damaging over 40 houses between December 23 and 25. Neighbouring Chittoor district also experienced quakes on December 23. This comes after first such quakes of 3.6 magnitude was recorded in Ambur taluk of Tirupattur by National Centre for Seismology (NCS), which monitors earthquake activity in the country.
Subsequently, Vellore Collector P. Kumaraval Pandian inspected the affected areas in Pernambut last week. Based on his request, the expert team is camping in the affected areas in Vellore. A final report will be submitted to the Collector.
