New Delhi: After a series of earthquakes jolted Delhi NCR area, tremors shook two more Indian states on Friday morning- Karnataka and Jharkhand. An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.7 on the Richter Scale hit Jamshedpur in Jharkhand on Friday morning at 06:55 am, as per the National Center for Seismology. While tremors with magnitude of 4.0 on the Richter Scale hit Hampi in Karnataka today at the same time. There are no immediate reports of loss of life or property. Also Check: Delhi-NCR Witnessed 11 Earthquakes Within Two Months


This comes close on the heels pf earthquake in Noida, Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. As per the updates from National Center for Seismology, the earthquake of magnitude 3.2 struck 19km South-East of Noida at 10:42 pm on Wednesday.

Delhi-NCR has been witnessing a series of earthquakes over the past few weeks. One after the other, the surface of the national capital region feels a jolt sending the public into a panic. However, none of these tremors have been serious and no loss of life or property has been reported.Also Read: Does A Series Of Small Earthquakes In Delhi NCR Indicate A Bigger One Is Around The Corner?

Recurring earthquakes at a time when the country is already grappling with Coronavirus pandemic and the after-effects of two devastating cyclones, one in Bay of Bengal impacting the adjoin states of Odisha and west Bengal, and the other in Arabian Sea, impacting Maharashtra and Gujarat, puts up a challenging situation for the government and the disaster relief departments.

Fortunately, the quakes haven’t been of high intensity so far.

Earthquake (Seismic) Zones in India

Depending upon the risk and damage of an earthquake at a particular place  based on the observations of the affected areas and its past seismic activities, India is classified into four seismic zones.

As per the Bureau of Indian Standards India has four seismic zones- Zone-2, Zone-3, Zone-4 and Zone-5 with Zone 5 being the highest risk zone, while zone 2 being the least prone.

Zone 5: It is ‘Very Severe Intensity Zone’ and  covers the areas with the highest risks zone that suffers earthquakes of intensity MSK IX or greater (intensity on MM Scale). It is referred to as the Very High Damage Risk Zone. The region of Kashmir, the Western and Central Himalayas, North and Middle Bihar, the North-East Indian region, the Rann of Kutch and the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands fall in this zone. Generally, the areas having trap rock or basaltic rock are prone to earthquakes.

Zone 4

This zone is called the High Damage Risk Zone and covers areas liable to MSK VIII. It covers remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, the parts of Indo-Gangetic plains (North Punjab, Chandigarh, Western Uttar Pradesh, Terai, North Bengal, Sundarbans) and the capital of the country Delhi fall in Zone 4. In Maharashtra, the Patan area (Koynanagar) is also in zone no-4. In Bihar the northern part of the state like Raxaul, Near the border of India and Nepal, is also in zone no-4.

Zone 3

This zone is classified as Moderate Damage Risk Zone which is liable to MSK VII. It includes parts of following states and UTs: remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep islands.

Zone 2

This region is liable to MSK VI or less and is classified as the Low Damage Risk Zone.  It covers the rest of the parts.

Zone 1

The current division of India into earthquake hazard zones does not use Zone 1, no area of India is classed as Zone 1.

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(info source: wikipedia)