GUWAHATI: After hours of panic and utter chaos, Assam limped back to normalcy as a Madras University geologist’s prediction of a high magnitude earthquake in Assam on Friday proved wrong.
The entire state of 26 million people went into a tizzy after N Venkatanathan of the Department of Applied Geology said on Thursday there was 70 per cent chance of an earthquake of 7-8 magnitude on the Richter scale hitting Assam 8.21 am on Friday.
He said its epicentre would be about 15 km southwest of Dibrugarh, 500 km east of here.
But with the clock striking 8.21 am and no tremor experienced, there was a sigh of relief, accompanied by cheers. “No doubt about it, we are relieved,” Nabanita Baruah, a dental surgeon in Guwahati, said as she embraced her husband.
Venkatanathan had said his alert was not an official warning but flowed out of his theory based on geo-astrophysical calculations he had successfully tested for several years.
People in thousands moved out of their homes and took positions in open spaces early on Friday after the tremor warning. “We were out since 7 am and returned home around 9 am. We all really panicked thinking doomsday was approaching. But then god was kind and nothing happened,” Gangadhar Saharia, a businessman in Dibrugarh, said over telephone. The Assam government had sounded a maximum alert after the prediction.
“We are still on alert and taking no chances,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam health minister and government spokesman. As the appointed time for the quake passed, people embraced each other and cheered with a sense of jubilation. “This is crazy whoever predicted such a thing,” said Munindra Bhuyan, a government official.
People in large numbers left for nearby towns like Shillong in adjoining Meghalaya state, while many from Dibrugarh reached Guwahati to escape a possible devastation.
“We thought leaving to places away from Assam will save us and so decided to come to Shillong,” said Rubi Das, an entrepreneur from Guwahati.
The Assam government now wants New Delhi to form a core group of experts to verify any future predictions or warnings on disaster.
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