BOMBAY, 15 March 2005 — A moderate earthquake shook the western Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa, including India’s commercial capital Bombay, where people rushed out of their homes and offices.
The meteorological department here said the quake that was felt in early afternoon had its epicenter in the Koyna region in Satara district and measured 5.1 on Richter scale.
Several high-rise buildings were evacuated in downtown Bombay’s financial district as a precaution. “We were asked to leave the building. Most of us felt the ground move,” said Payal Rodrigues, office assistant with a Bombay software company.
Anxious relatives jammed phone lines trying to contact their loved ones.
“We were working in our office when suddenly the tables and chairs started shaking. When we realized it was an earthquake, all of us ran downstairs to safety,” said Vivek Joshi, an account with a cargo company.
Operations at the Reserve Bank of India and Bombay Stock Exchange, which have their buildings close to Nariman Point, were not affected by the tremor.
Traffic came to a standstill in some parts of the city as panic-stricken people assembled on the roads away from sky-scrappers.
Bombay’s Sensex stock index fell on news of the earthquake, extending an earlier loss to close 0.8 percent lower on the day.
The Koyna region is prone to earthquakes. It was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in December 1967, causing over 200 deaths.
