Mild tremours were felt in villages in the Tumakuru-Chitradurga border in Karnataka on Sunday morning.
According to the Karnataka State Disaster Monitoring Centre, the quake that struck at 6 40 am reportedly measured 2.02 on the Richter scale and lasted not more than ten seconds.
The tremors were felt in 14 villages including Tumakuru's Chikkanayakanahalli taluk and Chitradurga's Hosadurga and Hiriyur taluks. The tremours that forced people to rush out of their homes, also cracked the walls of a few temples. The tremors are also believed to have led to the cardiac arrest and consequent death of an aged woman.
“The tremors lasted 10 seconds and were recorded in nine seismometers including the Jogimatti seismometer observatory nearby Chitradurga town," The Times of India quoted G S Srinivasa Reddy, director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell, Bengaluru as saying.
A resident told The New Indian Express that he had rushed out of his three-storey building when he felt the columns of the building were caving in.
"I was on the third floor of my house, busy sending messages to my friends on social media, when I felt the columns of the three-storey building were caving in. I rushed out in panic and it took me more than half an hour to come to terms with the jolt," resident Narendra Babu said.
Meanwhile, a 72-year-old woman died of cardiac arrest in Chitradurga's Kanchipura village. Though villagers said that Rammakka had suffered a cardiac arrest while she was running out of her house during the quake, the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.
Although speculation was rife that the increasing mining activity had triggered the quake, Deputy Director of Mines and Geology Veerabhadraiah said that the mining activity could not be linked with the tremors.