A tremor measuring 3.2 on the Richter Scale was recorded Saturday evening just 30 kilometres from the Sardar Sarovar dam in Kevadiya, Gujarat. This is the second minor tremor to strike near the dam in the last 25 days.
“The epicentre of the tremor lay 30 km south-southwest from the dam. It occurred at a depth of 5.7 kilometre,” an official from the Institute of Seismological Research (ISR) at Gandhinagar told The Indian Express.
There was no report of damage to the region which also houses the Statue of Unity. The last reported seismic activity near the dam site was on June 22 when a similar tremor measuring 3.1 on the Richter Scale struck just 12 km away from the dam on the river Narmada.
Gandhinagar-based ISR has been analysing seismic activity near the dam site for several years. According to ISR, the Narmada fault, which runs near the dam, has the potential to produce a 6.5 magnitude earthquake.
In addition, ISR has installed a network of seismographs near the dam to monitor seismic activity. Despite the fact that Kutch and Saurashtra are the most active seismic zones in Gujarat, the Narmada rift zone has experienced magnitude 5.4 earthquakes at Bharuch in 1970.