Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) acting Director General Janaka Ajithprema said a regional map will be created regarding the earthquakes in Sri Lanka, by monitoring the earthquakes in Sri Lanka yesterday.
For that purpose, the director general said that the earthquakes that happened in the past in this country will be taken into consideration and also mentioned that he is hoping to using the data system about earthquakes in India too.
“Work is currently underway to commence this task”, he said.
The Bureau stated that earthquakes of magnitude 2.6 and 3.0 on the Richter scale have occurred on Saturday and yesterday (19) in the coastal area of Kirinda and in the Gomarankadawala area of Trincomalee.
One tremor had occurred in the Kirinda sea area, about one kilometer away from the coast at around 6.45 pm on Saturday (18) and the other tremor had occurred in Gomarankadawala area of Trincomalee at around 3.30 am yesterday (19), said Senior Geologist Sanjeewa Hettiarachi of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau.
Sanjeewa Hettiarachchi further stated that these two minor earthquakes have been recorded in Pallekele, Mahakanadarawa, Hakmana and Buddhangala earthquake monitors and that no one had inquired about this from the Bureau of Geology and Mines until yesterday (19) morning.
Minor earthquakes of magnitude 3.00, 3.5 and 2.3 on the Richter Scale, occurred in Buttala Pelwatta and Wellawaya areas on March 10 and 11.Senior Geologist Sanjeewa Hettiarachchi said that about seven earthquakes with a magnitude of 4-5 on the Richter scale were reported from Iran to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea up to Australia the previous day near the
border of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate and the European-Asian tectonic plate. He said that it has to be studied whether the cause of the earthquakes in Kirinda and Gomarakandawala occurred as a result of these. Therefore, the cause of these two earthquakes cannot be explained with certainty, he said.