Tremors continue to haunt Haripur
By - Sudhir Vyas

First the earth shook violently in Bhavnagar, then came the January 26 killer earthquake and now another disaster is waiting to happen at Haripur village in Talala taluka of Junagadh district. For the last few weeks the earth is shaking violently followed by loud bangs, forcing panic-stricken people to move out of their homes. On Sunday alone as many as 16 aftershocks were felt in Haripur.

People of this tiny village are being forced to migrate to other places to save themselves from a Bhuj-type disaster. They are moving out to safer p laces using all possible means of transportation. However, they are more fortunate then their brethren in Bhuj who had no time to evade the killer quake.

Besides Haripur, eight neighbouring villages including Hiranvel, Sangodra, Chitrod and Bhalchel are also witness to these violent shakings. According to Himatsinh Jadeja of Hiranvel, ‘The nights are particularly frightening as people are virtually jolted out of their beds either by a violent shaking or a loud explosion,"

People of Haripur and its neighboring villages now spend the nights in the pen fearing their houses may collapse. However, so far there are no reports of any house collapse.

Most of the houses this correspondent visited wore an empty look as all valuables were shifted to safer places with the help of neighbors. "AME sate Mali ne eke bija ne madad kari saman hatava mate (We helped each other to move the luggage)," said Ramdev Bhimji of Haripur. Officials at the Junagadh collector’s office said during the last 16 days as many as 583 tremors were felt. They said Delhi seismography centres chief Bhattacharya and geologist Manjit Singh are camping here for the past 16 days to record the tremors.

Thirty-nine tremors were felt on November 2, while on November 10 it was a high of 145 times, The tremors measured about 3.1 on the Richter scale. Junagadh collector Suyana Tomar said over 30 families from Haripur have already shifted to safer places. The district administration has kept as many as 30 buses stationed in these villages to evacuate people in case of an emergency.

Besides this, medical teams and supplies of medicines and ambulances have been kept in operational preparedness, Tomar said. Four JCB machines have also been kept ready. Control rooms have been opened in these villages equipped with wireless sets. Three deputy collectors and three deputy superintendents of police have also been stationed in these villages.

Tomar said the district administration is fully-equipped to tackle any eventuality. She also said a team from the Delhi meteorological department is arriving at Haripur on November 14 to evaluate the situation.

Despite the relentless effort of the district collector, the large scale migration of people speak volumes of the fear in their minds.

Republished from The Times of India