New Delhi, India (CU) _ On Friday night, a strong earthquake of 6.3 magnitude shook parts of Pakistan and India. The earthquake was felt across northwest India, including Delhi, with its epicenter in Tajikistan. Following the earthquake, the residents of Lohore reported strong tremors and many aftershocks. Strong tremors were also felt in Delhi and surrounding areas for several seconds. According to India’s National Center for Seismology, the epicenter of the earthquake was in Tajikistan, which is about 450 km from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.
The earthquake hit at 10:31 pm IST at a depth of 74 km from the surface. The north Indian subcontinent including states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Uttarakhand also felt heavy tremors. Millions of people felt the earthquake, especially in the more densely populated areas of northern Pakistan and India.
JL Gautam, head of operations at National Centre for Seismology (NCS), said “The epicenter is in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region where the Indo Australian plate is colliding with the Eurasian plate. It’s seismically highly active area. The tremors have been felt across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi NCR. However, we haven’t received any reports of damage yet”.
People in many parts of northern India such as Punjab’s Ludhiana, Jammu and Srinagar were seen rushing out of their homes. Islamabad, Lahore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces of Pakistan also felt the tremors of the quake. No loss of life or property damage in the neighboring country was registered. Some people abandoned their homes and gathered in parks and vacant fields. People were seen in Srinagar’s streets after major jolts were felt in the valley.
AP Pandey, a seismologist at National Centre for Seismology, said “As we know the Indian and the Eurasian plates are colliding, so the Himalayas are always active. This event happened towards the Eurasian plate but it was a very strong earthquake, so the energy was felt here also. Smaller aftershocks are possible but the source is very far so it’s unlikely to impact us”.
Following the earthquake, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he prayed for the safety of people. He tweeted, “Earthquake tremors felt in Delhi. Praying for everyone’s safety”.
Omar Abdullah, National Conference leader took to twitter and said, “Not since the earthquake of 2005 have the tremors in Srinagar been bad enough to force me out of the house. I grabbed a blanket & ran. I didn’t remember to take my phone & so was unable to tweet “earthquake” while the damn ground was shaking”.
