4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Jolts Rajasthan's Alwar; Strong Tremors Felt In Delhi-NCR Region

The epicenter of this earthquake has been located 63 km south-west of Gurugram in Haryana. The earthquake measured 4.7 on the Richter Scale.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: A medium-intensity earthquake of magnitude 4.7 jolted Alwar district in Rajasthan on Friday, tremors of which were felt in parts of north India including Delhi-NCR including Gurugram and Noida, the National Centre for Seismology said. The epicenter of this earthquake has been located 63 km south-west of Gurugram in Haryana. The earthquake measured 4.7 on the Richter Scale and had a depth of 35 km. The tremors of the quake were also felt in Delhi-NCR, triggering panic among people. No injuries or loss of lives or collateral damages have been reported so far. In the wake of the recent series of tremors in Delhi-NCR, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology has said that such tremors are not unusual in the Delhi-NCR region, but indicate that strain energy is built-up in the region. Out of 14 small magnitude earthquakes in the Delhi-NCR, the May 29 Rohtak earthquake had the magnitude of 4.6. The historical earthquake catalog shows that there were strong earthquakes of 6.5 magnitude at Delhi in 1720; 6.8 at Mathura in 1803; 5.5 near Mathura in 1842; 6.7 near Bulandshahar in 1956; 6.0 near Faridabad in 1960; 5.8 near Moradabad in 1966 in the Delhi-NCR. All the earthquakes in Delhi-NCR are due to the release of strain energy, which have been accumulated as a result of northward movement of Indian plate and its collision with the Eurasian plate, through the fault or weak zones. Even on May 29, an earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale, in Haryana's Rohtak district, jolted the national capital and its surrounding regions. The earthquake, with a depth of 3.3 kilometre, had its epicentre 16 kilometre east-southeast of Rohtak. It occurred at 9.08 pm. On May 10, an earthquake measuring 3.5 had hit the national capital and its adjoining areas. The epicentre of the quake was near Wazirpur in Delhi. Similarly, on April 12 and 13, a medium intensity earthquake of magnitude had 3.5 and 2.7 had struck the national capital. Delhi lies on Zone IV of the seismic map of India. Zones IV and V have a high probability of destruction.