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‘Sofa shaking, bottle fell’: Kolkata residents left in panic as strong tremors hit city
Visuals emerging from different parts of the city showed ceiling fans shaking wildly and bottles rattling on tables.
Strong tremors were felt across Kolkata and several districts of south Bengal on Friday afternoon after a 5.5-magnitude earthquake hit neighbouring Bangladesh, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.
An IMD official said that the epicentre of the quake was at a place named Nayabazar in Bangladesh, around 100 km from Kolkata.
The strong tremors left people in panic, with residents gathering in open spaces and offices getting evacuated in the Bengal capital. Many residents said they were shocked as they had never experienced such strong tremors before.
Swagata, a Kolkata resident, said that the sofa and fan in their room were visibly shaking, after which they had to rush downstairs to open spaces.
"We were sitting on our sofa when we suddenly felt the tremors. We rushed out of our house. The sofa and fan were shaking, and a bottle kept on a table fell down. All of us have rushed downstairs," she said.
A resident said it was "possibly the strongest tremors I have felt in life,” recalling how the building swayed for several long seconds.
Visuals emerging from different parts of the city showed ceiling fans shaking wildly and bottles rattling on tables.
In several neighbourhoods, people were seen gathering on the streets, some barefoot, others holding their phones, trying to call family members and check on loved ones.
Many residents said they had never felt such a strong earthquake in Kolkata before.
The tremor struck at 1:22 pm IST at a depth of 10 km, with its epicentre located in Bangladesh at latitude 22.57°N and longitude 89.11°E.
Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey (USGS) registered a magnitude of 5.3. The USGS confirmed the epicentre was 26 km southeast of Taki in West Bengal.
Epicentre close to Bengal border
Khulna, located in southwestern Bangladesh, lies relatively close to the India-Bangladesh border and the Sundarbans delta region. The proximity of the epicentre, roughly 100–150 km from Kolkata, explains why the tremors were distinctly felt across south Bengal.
According to USGS, the earthquake occured 23 kilometres from Taki, a town in West Bengal.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake is categorised as moderate, capable of causing noticeable shaking over a wide area, particularly in regions with soft alluvial soil such as the Gangetic delta.
