A mild earthquake shook the national Capital and its adjoining areas on Tuesday. The tremors were felt in Delhi nearly four minutes after the quake struck in Western Pakistan’s Baluchistan province killing 80 people and injuring about another 80.
Since the epicentre of the earthquake, which measured 7 on the Richter scale was in Baluchistan, hundreds of kilometres away from Delhi, it did not cause any damage in the city.
The intensity of the earthquake in the city was rated at four on the scale of 12, which categorises the tremor in the Capital as being a ‘slight’ one.
“The magnitude of the quake was 7 on the Richter scale. It occurred at a latitude of 27 degree North and longitude of 65.7 degree East and was at a depth of 10 kilometres at the epicentre in Pakistan. The intensity of the quake in Pakistan was between 9 to 10, whereas that in Delhi was between 3 to 4 which can be called as a mild or slight earthquake,” said Jl Gautam, Director, Seismology Department, IMD.
Officials said there was no immediate report of any casualties or damage in the city. However the tremors that rocked the city at 5 pm and lasted for nearly 45 seconds, created panic and people rushed out of their homes and offices.
“I was on the 15th floor of our office when everything started shaking. Even my glass of water toppled over. We all left the office via the emergency stairs,” said Disha Arora, who works in Connaught Place. People in Noida and Gurgaon felt the tremors too. “The hanging lights and fans in my home were moving like a pendulum,” said Kavitha Pradeep, a resident of Vasundhara in Ghaziabad.
Mild tremors were also felt in UP, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and even Maharashtra, but there were no reports of any damage. The quake was experienced in the border areas of Jaisalmer and Barmer. People in Jaipur also said they experienced the tremors, but the MeT Department denied it.