Chennai tremors: When Justice Chandru braved the quake in 2012

A look back at the recent tremors that set the city abuzz, particularly the quake of 2012.

After mild tremors were felt in Chennai on Tuesday afternoon, the city was abuzz with discussions on several Whatsapp groups and chat forums, where the most commonly asked question was,"Did you feel it?"

The tremors which shook up the city, were the aftermath of an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale was reported in the Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh coast. Several neighbourhoods in Chennai, right from Mount Road to Thiruvanmiyur and areas close to the sea experienced the movement.

Tamil Nadu Weatherman Pradeep John was quick to reassure people that there was no need to panic. In a post on Twitter, he said, " People need not panic, the event has ended and it happened far away from Chennai. Particularly don't believe any rumours. No threat of Tsunami from this quake."

There were similar tremors in February 2019 and earlier this year, an intra plate quake was felt near Chengam in Tiruvannamalai district on April 11.

Interestingly, similar tremors were experienced in 2012 and the eminent former High Court judge Justice Chandru shared an anecdote, via a newspaper report. The tremors were felt during a court session, and the advocates panicked and wanted to vacate the premises. That's when the judge said: "Is it not an honour to be buried under this majestic heritage building, should it collapse?"

The dumbstruck advocates were rendered speechless, but were literally saved by the bell, as the long ring indicated the end of court hours. Sharing this incident on Facebook, Justice Chandru recalls how he left the deserted premises on that day.

As per the National Center for Seismology, the earthquake was at 12.35 pm on Tuesday and was at a depth of 10 kilometres. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Chennai has confirmed that the tremors were caused by this earthquake. “We are still in the process of studying the tremors. The epicentre of the earthquake is found to be near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, in the Bay of Bengal region. Its magnitude is ascertained as 5.1 on the Richter scale. As a result, tremors were felt in parts of northern Tamil Nadu including Chennai."