Earthquake with 4.7 magnitude jolts Delhi-NCR

The national capital on Friday was jolted by tremors of an earthquake. In July, Delhi was hit with a quake for the first time this year. According to the National Centre for Seismology, the earthquake of magnitude 4.7 had an epicentre 63 km southwest of Gurugram, Haryana. The earthquake struck at 7:00:48 PM IST at a depth of 5 km from the surface. The shocks lasted for a few seconds. Tremors were felt across Delhi and in the nearby regions of Noida and Ghaziabad as well.

On May 29, Delhi was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.6 on the Richter Scale with an epicentre in Rohtak, Haryana. On May 15, Delhi was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.2 on the Richter Scale hit 13km NW of New Delhi and earlier on May 10 a medium-intensity earthquake of magnitude 3.4 had hit the capital with an epicentre near Northeast Delhi’s Wazirpur area.”

The same area was also the epicentres of the earthquakes of magnitudes 3.5 and 2.7 respectively which hit on April 12 and April 13.

कुछ देर पहले दिल्ली में भूकंप के हल्के झटके महसूस किए गए। उम्मीद है आप सभी सुरक्षित है, अपना ख़्याल रखें।

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 3, 2020

Recent tremors in the national capital region do not signal a big event, although a strong earthquake cannot be ruled out, according to Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), an institute under Union Science and Technology Ministry.

“The recent events cannot be defined as foreshocks. If a big earthquake takes place in a region, all smaller events that occurred in the immediate past at that region are categorized as the foreshocks. Therefore, scientifically all these tremors in the Delhi-NCR can be demarcated as the foreshocks only after a big earthquake takes place immediately,” it stated.
“Though it cannot be predicted, a stronger earthquake posing a threat to people and properties cannot be ruled out. Since an earthquake cannot be predicted by any mechanism, the tremors cannot be described as the signal of a big event.”

WIHG also stated that earthquakes are not predictable but there lies a probability of a large to great earthquake with magnitude 6 and more in the highest seismic potential zone V and IV, which fall in the entire Himalaya and Delhi-NCR.

“The only solution to minimise the loss of lives and properties is the effective preparedness against the earthquake,” it said.