Tremors rattled Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra at around 1514 IST on Monday, 14th Mar 2005.

"The tremors were felt for a few seconds around 3.14 pm. The furniture and other materials shook for over a minute in south Mumbai".

The earthquake, measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale, was centered around Koyna, district Satara in western Maharashtra. Konya is an area prone to seismic activity. Koyna is 112 kms from Pune and 272 kms from Mumbai.

There was panic in Nariman Point business district in Mumbai, with people rushing out of multi-storied office buildings. The quake created an alarm among the people especially in the high rise buildings who were seen running out of their homes and offices, an eyewitness said.

Tremors were felt in parts of neighbouring Goa and Karnataka too.

"Kucha-pucca houses may develop cracks, while weaker buildings may fall. Dams are generally built to withstand high intensity quakes. So there is no need to worry about the Koyna dam," the IMD(Indian Meteorological Department) official said.

The Koyna dam is one of the biggest hydro-electric projects in the state. A severe quake occurred in Koyna on December 11, 1967. The Koyna dam is situated in one of the most active seismic zones of Maharashtra and in 35 years this region has witnessed more than one lakh tremors.

At the time of filing this, there were no reports of any loss of life.

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