World Trade Centre, Central Bank and Bank of Ceylon buildings had been shaken.
It is reported that the residents of Colombo had been feared by the tremours and the noise of blasts that had occurred at around 11 o’ clock in the morning.
People who have thought it to be an earthquake had come out of their houses and working places out of fear. When we made an inquiry was made from the Meteorological Department, they said that it isn’t an earthquake and that had occurred due to renovations that are being done at the Colombo port premises. The sea around the port is being dug in order to make it deep and thus these tremors had occurred as a result of that. N.P Wijayananda, the Director had stated that there had been 10 blasts in silence and the 11th one had been a bit noisy and little tremors had occurred. He had further stated that there is nothing to be afraid of.
The following extract is from what he had said:
“When we were deepening the port, there was a rock. Actions were taken to crush this rock. Today was the 11th blast. There were 10 blasts before which were not felt by the people. We have fixed equipment at the Central Bank centre to measure and to observe the pressure. The public need not fear as we are checking whether the blasts are carried out according to our stipulated standards. The residents around the Colombo Port need not fear if there will be further tremors while the excavation process is bieng conducted.”
However, it was reported that there were tremors in the Central Bank, Bank of Ceylon and several premises in Colombo Fort.
These excavations are carried out under the project of developing Colombo Port. The port is deepened so that huge ships can reach the basement where containers will be parked.
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