4.5-magnitude earthquake felt in NCR

NEWDELHI: A magnitude 4.5 earthquake hit Haryana’s Rohtak, over 65 km from Delhi, on Friday evening at 9.08 pm with its epicentre at a depth of 5 km, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.

This is the latest in a series of temblors that have hit Delhi and the adjoining areas since April. A mild 2.7 magnitude earthquake hit Delhi for the second time in two days on April 13. The tremor had its epicentre at the depth of 5 km in northeast Delhi’s Sonia Vihar. A 3.5 magnitude earthquake a day earlier had its epicentre at the same location at the depth of 8 km. Another temblor of 3.4 magnitude hit Delhi on May 10.

People across Delhi and particularly those living in high rises felt the fresh tremors, NCS said. “We got calls even from people, who live on grounds floors and still felt strong tremors. This [fresh] earthquake [has its epicentre] in ...Rohtak in Haryana. We have recorded five earthquakes in Sonia Vihar since April; three of them were very mild,” said an NCS official.

AP Pandey, an NCS seismologist, said the region near Rohtak has been very active due to convergence of some fault lines. “There is the Delhi-haridwar ridge, Delhi-sargodha ridge and Mahendergarh-dehradun fault. It like a junction of these faults. In 2012, we had recorded a 5.1 magnitude earthquake just west of that location. We can expect some aftershocks to follow after the mainshock,” he said.

When Delhi recorded the 3.5 magnitude earthquake in April, seismologists said it is not unusual for the epicentre of these relatively small earthquakes to be in Delhi and Haryana. But less noise from traffic made the recording on seismometer very accurate. NCS seismologists said they had a “very good” recording. “The recording was very clear because of no noise. This time the magnitude of the earthquake is also higher. So people must have felt it. It is a lot of energy being released. If one is at home, the experience can be more intense but not so much if they are moving.”