Tremors, rumours — Bhavnagar scrambles in panic

In a couple of hours, the city was abuzz with talk of `flashes’ on the internet warning about decimation of the city. There was another rumour that religious heads had also predicted doom for Bhavnagar.

“There was one rumour about a special report on a national channel on Bhavnagar saying it may go down any moment so we switched on the television only to be fooled,” said Praveen Dave, a student.

Says advocate Akshay Oza: “But there was absolute chaos and terror till 4 pm. People had panicked and had come out on the roads fearing the roofs might collapse. The rumours spread like wildfire thanks to some miscreants who fanned them out of proportion. There was a lot of fear because the city shook several times during the day.”

However, it was people living in flats in high rises in Sindhunagar and Bharatnagar area who had the most terrifying experience. “After the first tremor at 9.40 in the morning all living in flats of multi-storeyed buildings came down. By noon, when no fresh tremors were felt, they gained enough confidence to go up again. But at 1 pm the earth shook and they all rushed out screaming. Some of them were eating at that time and rushed out half way and it was late in the night before officials from the district administration cajoled them into going into their homes. But we spent a sleepless night,” says Mavjibhai Solanki, a government employee.

In fact, the city was so terror-stricken that District Collector Kantibhai Patel had to requisition the help of several local channel operators to make announcements that they were only mild tremors and there was no need to panic or go out of homes.

“Still, we had a tough time pacifying the crowds who were on a constant diet of rumours throughout the day and they were afraid the rumours may hold true,” Patel told The Indian Express.

While there was panic all around, there were a few who couldn’t hide their glee. Fast-food vendors and roadside snack stall owners made a killing as thousands of Bhavnagaris literally spent the day out. “Half of Bhavnagar was on the roads last night. The restaurants, eating joints and rekdiwallas must have had good business,” says J N Mishra, executive secretary of the Shipbreakers Association. Mishra also said the atmosphere in Alang, which has a large concentration of migrant workers, was not affected by the rumours.

Meanwhile, it took several hours for the Bhavangar Municipal Commissioner, District Collector Kantibhai Patel, DDO and DSP J K Bhatt who formed teams and visited various places assuring people camping outside their homes and the roads that it was safe and the tremors would not cause any destruction.