Thiruvananthapuram: A mild tremor, measuring 2.5 on the Richter Scale, triggered panic in the suburban areas of Kilimanoor, Kallara and Nagaroor, nearly 25 km from the city, early Wednesday morning. The tremor occurred at 4.20 a.m. and lasted for nearly three seconds. There was no major damage but there were reports of people experiencing vibrations, vessels falling down from shelves, and small cracks appearing on the walls of some houses.

The Seismology Unit at the MET Centre here recorded the tremor. Met Centre director K. Santhosh said the epicentre may have been nearly 25 km from the city. "The tremor was too mild to identify the exact location but the effect would have been felt in the areas along a radius of three kilometres," he said.

The district administration despatched tahsildars and village officers to the areas to assess the impact and the Additional District Magistrate was directed to coordinate their work. "The reports show that there is no damage anywhere," District Collector N. Ayyappan said. Venjaramoodu and Attingal also experienced the tremor.

Director of the Centre for Earth Science Studies M. Baba said the presence of a North West-South East trending fracture in the belt extending from Chadayamangalam through Pangode and Nedumangad made the region susceptible to recurrent tremors of the kind experienced on Wednesday. Even small crustal movements along the fracture could trigger a tremor, he said.

Four small quakes were reported from the same area in 2001. Mr. Baba said any place in the State was vulnerable to mild tremors of the kind reported on Wednesday since Kerala has been classified as seismic zone 3.

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