Television reports about a mild quake in Jamshedpur early on Friday had worried residents of Jamshedpur calling the office of the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner, primarily because no one seemed to have felt any tremors.

Later, however, it was revealed that the news reports were wrong, based, as they were, on a “false alarm” posted on the website of National Centre for Seismology in Delhi.

An assistant scientist at the centre said it was an automated message that was posted erroneously. It was withdrawn at 9am.

“It was a false alarm. An auto message had gone out on our website about the earthquake at Bangalore and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) in the morning. News channels might have picked it up from there,” he said, adding that reporters should have checked with them first.

The message that was put out on the website said an earthquake of magnitude 4.7 on the Richter scale had taken place 83km southeast of Jamshedpur at 6.55 am.

Initially panic soon gave way to dismay once residents got to know of the television reports. East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla told The Telegraph Online that he had received several calls, seeking information about an earthquake.

“We received telephone calls since morning seeking information about the earthquake, But not one of the 11 blocks of the district reported tremors,” he said.

P.K. Khan, professor in applied geophysics at IIT-ISM in Dhanbad, confirmed that their observatory did not pick up any vibration of an earthquake.

“Even a mild intensity quake anywhere in the state would not go unrecorded in our apparatuses. But we have no such recording, although I received several calls seeking information on the earthquake.

“An earthquake of over 4 on the Richter scale would have caused considerable vibration in all of Jharkhand. But there is no such information from even Jamshedpur authorities,” he said.