Tremors shook Delhi and NCR on Tuesday afternoon leading to panic in the region. People were seen rushing out of high-rises especially in residential areas.
The quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, was epicentred on the Pakistan-Iran border. The tremors that were felt for less than 10 seconds in the Capital shook tall buildings. However, no damage or casualty was reported.
People rushed out of their offices and homes.
An official from the India Meteorological Department said that the tremors were felt around 4.20 pm.
“The earthquake was epicentred at 1,400 km away from Delhi on the Pakistan and Iran border. Delhi falls in zone IV of the seismic. The worst earthquake tremors that the Capital felt was in 1960 and it recorded a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale” said the met official.
Soon after the tremors, social networking sites like Facebook were soon flooded with updates and posts from the users as to how they felt during the earthquake. The office of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority received over 50 calls on Tuesday following the news of tremor in the Capital.
Saurabh Patnaik operations manager at a firm in Greater Kailash said, “While I was having tea in my office, I felt that my chair was shaking. For a moment I could not realise but my colleagues shouted it was an earthquake and were running outside.”
Similarly, Mayank Shukla who works at Skill Tree Global Knowledge Consortium in Nehru Place, said, “I was in my office when I felt tremors. I asked my colleagues if it was an earthquake. The glass of water on my table was also shaking.”
However, some housewives in residential colonies said they ran out of buildings with children as a major earthquake could have led to building collapse. Swati Joneja a dancer at Noida said, “I was practicing at my studio and saw the water cooler shaking. We immediately stopped and realised it was an earthquake.”