Mild tremors on Sunday morning shook parts of Visakhapatnam prompting people to run out of their homes in several areas of the city in Andhra Pradesh.

Hindustan Times reported that residents of high rise buildings and apartments rushed out of their homes in Sagar Nagar, MVP Colony, Peda Waltair, One Town, Akkayyapalem, Kancharapalem, NAD, Gajuwaka and Vepagunta areas of Visakhapatnam.

The National Center for Seismology said it was an earthquake of magnitude 1.8.

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The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) tweeted asking people to take “precautionary steps” after the tremors were reported at 7:13am.

“Dear Citizens, The tremor was felt across the city around 7.14 am today. It’s requested to take precautionary steps to avoid possible earthquake impact,” GVMC said in the tweet.

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“In case of any earthquake like experience, come out of houses and stay in open safe spaces . Dont panic, Be Safe,” it also posted.

Meanwhile, several social media users tweeted they felt the tremors that lasted for a few seconds and heard a “loud explosion-like” sound in Visakhapatnam.

“Okay. What was that?! Something felt like earthquake after a strange loud sound,” a user tweeted.

“Experienced an earthquake around early morning 7:15, Also some sounds too,” another user posted on Twitter.

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Some also pointed out that there were minor tremors. 

“1.8 in richer scale is too small to have been felt. No source quoted it as some seismic activity in Visakhapatnam. It is highly unlikely that it is an earthquake but some explosion in sea or underground. Let’s wait for confirmation from navy or other industrial establishment,” a user wrote.

Volcanodiscovery.com said it received “unverified early reports of ground shaking” caused by possible “seismic activity” near Visakhapatnam.