Strong earthquake tremors were felt in northern India including the Delhi-NCR region after a 6.6 quake struck northern Afghanistan on Tuesday evening. According to reports, the earthquake was felt in Turkmenistan, India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
“As we know that the Indo Australian plate is colliding with the Eurasian plate and this release happened in that region. The HKH region is very active seismologically. The reason why people in northwest India and Delhi felt is for relatively longer time is because of the depth. The depth of the fault is over 150 km so first primary waves were felt and then secondary waves. Aftershocks are likely now but they can’t be Forecast”, J L Gautam, head of office and Scientist at National Center for Seismology, said.
People rushed out of their homes as the earthquake tremors lasted for several seconds in the northern Indian states including Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
The Delhi Fire Services said that they have received a call about the tilting of a building in Shakarpur area. Later on, it was found that the good intention call was made by the neighbour of the building and there was no tilt.
A Noida resident said he first noticed the dining table shaking. “Soon after we saw that the fans were also shaking. The earthquake was strong in terms of intensity and stayed for a longer period,” the resident of Hyde Park society in Noida told PTI.
"I was waiting for passengers and suddenly my car started shaking. I immediately shouted and told my friends about it," said cab owner Ramesh Pawar, who was near Connaught Place in central Delhi.
Jyoti, a resident of Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi, said she was watching television when she suddenly saw the TV and sofa were shaking.
Meanwhile, the earthquake killed nine people in Pakistan and Afghanistan, reported news agency AP. Over 100 people were brought to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a state of shock, Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency services told AP.
Source: Hindustan Times
