Geologist visits 8 villages to study mysterious rumbling sounds

Junagadh, Oct 9 (UNI) A geologist from here today visited eight Gir villages in Talala tehsil of the district to study the mysterious rumbling sounds that have been occurring for the past several days.

Ketan Mavadiya told UNI that these sounds are certainly not emanating from earthquake tremors or its aftershock, but were caused due to ''block system'', which might be the after-effect of the 2001 massive earthquake in Kutch. However, he refused to elaborate.

Asked about his observation over the recurring phenomena, Mr Mavadiya replied that he cannot say anything with certainty about its root cause, though he would go to Gandhinagar and give his views.

Villages such as Moruka, Suruva, Vadla, Akol Vadi, Jasapar, Haripar, Rasoolpara and Hadamatiya experienced rumbling sounds yesterday, spreading panic among the people, who rushed out of their houses as the vessels started making huge rattling sound. Many houses had developed cracks on the walls. All these villages fall within a radius of 15 kilometre.

However, village Jaspar experienced 15 such sounds. One theory is that the sounds were caused due to heavy monsoon rains, which have been lashing the region. Another theory is that with lots of water seeping underground, it could have disturbed airpockets within the bowels of the earth and created the rumblings.

These events are not new, as three years ago such sounds were felt in Haripur. A seismograph was also installed between October and December of 2001 to record any seismic activity, which has so far recorded more than a thousand tremors of magnitude ranging upto three on Richter scale. The Haripur village and nearby areas had again experienced the rumbling sounds during December 2004.

UNI