A 4.2 magnitude earthquake that jolted up people in few parts of Jharkhand and Bihar today, with its epicentre in Deoghar district, have raised an alarm as it could point towards the instability in rocks in the State.

According to the Ranchi Meteorological Centre as well as an environmentalist, Jharkhand that was earlier in the safer spot of Seismic Zone III, now is shifting towards Seismic Zone IV with five districts added to the list.

The mild earthquake, with its epicentre located 8km south-west of Madhupur, situated in Deoghar district in Jharkhand sent people scurrying away from their homes at 8.05 a.m. Although, no casualties or loss of property have been reported.

Ranchi-based environmentalist Nitish Priyadarshi said that the killer Nepal earthquake has rung alarm bells across Jharkhand, too, with over five districts have been found to be quake prone. “Earlier, Jharkhand fell under the Seismic Zone III, which is considered to be one of the safest zones in the country. The last notable earthquake of slightly high intensity of 5 magnitude was reported in the state with Hazaribagh being the epicenter in 1952. Four years ago, there was an earthquake reported with an epicenter in latehar, Garhwa of 3.5 magnitude that almost went unnoticed. But,  today’s tremor from Deoghar has caused concern over the state drifting to the dangerous seismic zone. Now, the five districts of Jharkhand, including  Deoghar, Pakur, Godda, Dhanbad and Sahebganj fall between the Seismic Zone III and IV, making the State appear to be drifting towards the danger zone.”

Explaining further, Priyadarshi said: “The Chhotanagpur plateau in Jharkhand represents a part of the Indian Peninsular field that is stable cratonic block of the earth crust. Craton is the stable interior portion of a continent characteristically composed of ancient crystalline basement rock and there is a belief that land above a cratonic block is generally shielded from earthquakes. The cause for concern is that there had been more than 10 mild to medium tremors occurred in the area since 1997 but with today’s epicenter located in Deoghar, we can no longer feel safe.”

He further said that the impact of Nepal earthquake and the constant tremors felt in the past have led to the weakness of rocks here in the state.

Meanwhile, Director of Ranchi Meteorological Centre BK Mandal also reiterated the danger signs in the State. “Though, the intensity of the earthquake was slight, the tremors were felt in many areas of Jharkhand and Bihar, including Jamui, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Banka, Deoghar, Ranchi and Dhanbad. The epicentre was 216 km south-east of Patna and 160 km north-east of Ranchi. The depth of this mild earthquake was recorded to be 10 km. That makes it appear quite dangerous because if the depth had been just lesser than 10 km, it would have resulted in a huge disaster with loss of property and lives irrespective of the intensity of the quake,” said Mandal.

Reportedly, there were only cracks found in several buildings in Madhupur and Deoghar rushing people out of their houses after the mild tremors.