Needless to say, Sonum Lotus’s flip-in-stance added fuel to the fire by raising suspicions amongst Kashmiris active across social media platforms. So did the letter from the Indian Air Force.
ON Tuesday night, exactly at 21:40:29 IST, Srinagar and adjoining areas were jolted by what many call a “sonic” boom. People rushed out of their homes to find their panic multiplied by a noisy confusion around the reason behind the large thud.
Social media was flushed with Kashmiris posting about the unsettling shake, trying to find the meaning behind it all. Speculations about it being an ‘explosion’ found validation in a recent missive by the Indian Air Force through which it had announced that it was conducting a massive demolition practice of 100 to 120 kg bombs in Srinagar.
Tensions and rumour-mongering compounded when the Director of Srinagar’s Meteorological Department, Sonum Lotus, spoke to a news channel saying “It could be anything, but it is not an earthquake.”
Interestingly, after the first 45 minutes of panic – virtually and otherwise – that followed the inscrutable shake, Sonum Lotus declared at 10.25 PM that it “was an earthquake”.
“FRIENDS IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE,” he sent a one-line message through his official WhatsApp account. Along with that, he also provided the Earthquake (EQ) Parameters – Magnitude: 3.6; Date: 22.09.2020; Time: 21:40:29 IST; Latitude: 34.15N; Longitude: 74.70 E; Depth: 5 Km; Region: Srinagar, J&K.
However, people across the virtual world – Kashmiris in particular – managed to make the most out of this brief period of uncertainty as they filled these spaces with creative memes, videos, and satirical writing.
Situation at wazwan, royal snub to the earthquake-cum-blast-like explosion. Wasta, ami patt cha gushtab. Kya karave Fazool kharchi, tave chi yi gasaan, talsa yeth tarv raas katrie!
— naseerganai (@naseerganai) September 22, 2020
Surprisingly, even a day after the official declaration about how the jolt originated from an ‘earthquake’, platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram kept the conversation about it alive. This was largely because most of the tweets and posts were probing into recent declarations and current affairs to calculate the timing and reason behind the ground-shaking thud.
Needless to say, Sonum Lotus’s flip-in-stance added fuel to the fire by raising suspicions amongst Kashmiris active across social media platforms. So did the letter from the Indian Air Force.
But, suspicions apart, laughing at the hilarity of the commissioned official’s inconstancy, Kashmiris indulged in some dank humour and inside jokes.
Noise cancellation of @Apple’s AirPods Pro failed here.#Srinagar #earthquake #boom
— Azhar Parvaiz (@azharparvaiz_) September 22, 2020
Don’t be scared that was #4G blast not #earthquake in Srinagar ,now forget about #4G#Srinagar#EarthquakePH #Restore4GinJK #KashmiriLivesMatter #kashmir
— Mohd waseem (@chemistry004) September 22, 2020
Some of the people’s favourites were –
There were few exclusives for the trending ‘chief(s)’ –
#earthquake #Srinagar
Meanwhile Sonam Lotus on these earthquake like tremors: pic.twitter.com/qeXaB0oRa6— Sheikh Basit (@SB2weets) September 22, 2020
Two different statements of Sonum Lotus within few minutes about the recent jolts.
HUMKO LAGG RAHA HAI KOUNU FIRKI LE RAHA HAI.#TremersInKashmir
— Sajad ibn Ahsan (@sajadibnahsan) September 22, 2020
It was an earthquake which Sonum Lotus didn’t felt
— Faizan فیضان (@faizan_ul_haq) September 22, 2020
In any way, a pool of participants imperative to this digital exchange was of people using the ‘earthquake’ as a metaphor to highlight the increasingly totalitarian doings of the current official setup in the Valley.
Imagine,an earthquake with 2.8 or 3.0 magnitude and epicentre in Pakistan or Afghanistan jolts whole #Kashmir along with Delhi & an earthquake with its epicentre in #Srinagar and 3.6 magnitude couldn’t be felt in Anantnag, Shopian or North kashmir.
What was it?#NoUlluBanawing— Deeba Ashraf (@deeba_ashraf) September 22, 2020
Only Kashmir has alleged earthquakes.
It’s probably the only place where traffic police has assault rifles, is a tourism destination AND a war zone, has tulip gardens and torture centers SIDE BY SIDE.
Dichotomy of alleged peace, and violence, cannot get more clearer.
— Qazi Zaid (@qazizaid89) September 23, 2020
In Kashmir, as Kashmiris, we are not supposed to say that the jolt and monstrous noise was blast-like. We have to say it was allegedly an earthquake. Then, we have to substantiate our alleged claim with official quotes, picture of the earthquake with officially approved headline!
— Gowhar Geelani (@GowharGeelani) September 22, 2020
Masla is not that we survived the scare of this blast… masla is that those #Kashmiris who will now say it’s not an earthquake will have to face the wrath of J&K Cyber police for not towing & tweeting the official earthquake version of Dc sahab!
This is called Tawanas Lagun!???? pic.twitter.com/xHFrjFHHB7
— Shazia Bakshi شازیہ (@Shazia) September 22, 2020
Just a regular day in Kashmir.#kashmir pic.twitter.com/9XJyNxEdHB
— Ghazal Qadri (@GhazalQadri1) September 22, 2020
A basic search and five minutes of scrolling showed any viewer that an overwhelming and virtually-noticeable majority of Kashmiris had rejected the administration’s and Lotus’s (final) version of the episode. This mass rejection by Kashmiris on social media had also grabbed the attention of many.
Was it #earthquake or air blast? We don’t know yet. But one thing is sure Kashmiris don’t even trust Sarkar’s meteorological department now! The way the met dept changing statements also arouses suspicion. This after August 5!
— Salman Nizami (@SalmanNizami_) September 22, 2020
Such is the Trust Deficit between Kashmiris and Indian Administration that even an earthquake is questioned.
— Tony Ashai (@tonyashai) September 23, 2020
The less skeptic Kashmiris were quoting an alert from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). It is an independent scientific organisation founded in 1975 based on a recommendation by the European Seismological Commission. Its official handle had tweeted at 10:20 PM that “shaking was reported” in Srinagar.
Shaking was reporte in #Srinagar #India area 35 min ago. Here is the map of the eyewitnesses’ reports. Shaking is often cause by earthquake but sometimes by sonic booms. Stay safe pic.twitter.com/CW5mkLMpry
— EMSC (@LastQuake) September 22, 2020
Before this tweet, however, the handler of EMSC’s account accidentally but comically wrote that the shaking lasted a total of 20 minutes in the city – spinning a web of reactionary retweets and replies.
Sorry I meant 20 min AGO!
Sound has been widely reported. It is not unusual when at close distance from an earthquake. As I said, we have no reason at this stage to believe it is not an earthquake. https://t.co/UQbKkUB5ag— EMSC (@LastQuake) September 22, 2020
Omg could you imagine having an earthquake last for 20 minutes??
???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/piP2UGt9ah— Double Deelite (@doubledeelite7) September 22, 2020
Around the same time period, the independent body also made an effort to rationalise the counter to their ‘earthquake declaration’ by mentioning from their access to eye-witness accounts that ‘shaking’ is mostly caused by earthquakes. But it also admitted to the possibility of some ‘military jets’ being responsible for it, as it drew a parallel between the Srinagar boom and the tragic explosion at the Beirut harbour in its tweet.
What is reported is shaking level (as reported from eyewitnesses). In the vast majority of cases, they are caused by earthquakes. However, sometimes they are due to military jets breaking the sound barrier, we had once a meteor and the explosion of Beirut harbor 1/2 https://t.co/WOnBoJV9DL
— EMSC (@LastQuake) September 22, 2020
So, do we take Sonum Lotus’s ‘technical’ statement before his WhatsApp announcement as a careless – but massive – oversight/Freudian slip or just as plain incompetency?
Maybe he was right the first time or maybe he wasn’t. Everybody is in the wait for more reports and expert findings.
Meanwhile, we are wondering if the EMSC was misinformed about the most recognised and used script in the Valley. Its account usually tweets region-specific alerts with a hashtag for the word ‘earthquake’ in the region’s native language.
In their (misplaced) enthusiasm, not only did they tweet with a major typo but also spelt ‘earthquake’ as ‘bhukamp’ in the Devanagiri script for a Koshur/Urdu-speaking Kashmir.
Felt #earthquake (#भूकंप) M3.6 strikes 11 km NW of #Srīnagar (#India) 43 min ago. Please report to: https://t.co/1kOFTjoaTw pic.twitter.com/tYPn8InntF
— EMSC (@LastQuake) September 22, 2020
Even the newly-passed J&K official languages bill, that is yet to be a law, has not hinted at the superimposition of one script in its text so far.
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