Yet Another Low Intensity Earthquake Jolts Delhi-NCR, 16th Tremor Since April

Amid the speculation and rumors following the frequent earthquakes in the region, the national capital on Monday was jolted by yet another tremor with an epicentre at Gurugram, Haryana. "An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.1 on the Richter Scale hit 13km WNW of Gurugram, Haryana at 1 pm today," said National Centre for Seismology.

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Tremors were felt across Delhi and in Noida as well. No casualties or damage to properties have been reported from any part of NCR.

With the frequent earthquakes, there have been apprehensions if it is a prelude to a big temblor, but experts say there is nothing unusual in this seismic activity. Though it is not possible to predict quakes, a proper disaster management plan should be in place to deal with any emergency, they stressed.

The Delhi-NCR region is very peculiar with regard to seismic activities. It has several faultlines that generate earthquakes, but it also feels the impact of quakes that are epicentred as far as the Hindukush mountains in Afghanistan and even in Nepal.

Delhi witnessed a major earthquake in 1720 measuring 6.5. The last major quake in the region was near Bulandshahr in 1956 measuring 6.7, according to A K Shukla, who was the head of the Centre for Semiology and Earthquake Risk Evaluation Centre of India Meteorology Department which was later brought under the newly formed National Centre for Seismology.

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Shukla said the recent quakes are not an unusual phenomenon as the Delhi NCR region has several faultlines like the Mahendragarh-Dehradun faultine. There are faults at Mathura, Moradabad and Sohna.

CP Rajendran, professor of Geodynamics at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, said Delhi has not witnessed any quake above 4.5 magnitude so far. There is a very little possibility of having a major earthquake in the Delhi-NCR, a region with very high population density, he said. ¡°Earthquakes are not new to the Delhi-NCR because of its several faultlines. If one observes the earthquake pattern since last two and half months, the highest magnitude was 4.5 recorded on May 29 (Rohtak). Since then it has reduced,¡± he said.

"We don¡¯t have the faultlines in Delhi that stretch for hundreds of kilometres, like the way we have in Himalayas which is known for its high seismic activities. There are local faultlines and are bound to release the stress resulting in quakes," Rajendran said.

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Due to the fault systems around Delhi, the city could get an earthquake of magnitude around 6 to 6.5, but this only shows capability of the local system, Shukla said. "It does not mean that such a quake will occur immediately as there is no scientific technique to predict earthquake,¡± he said. Shukla who was part of the team that conducted seismic microzonation of the city said 30 per cent of Delhi falls under Zone V, while the rest is under Zone IV.

According to the macro seismic zoning map of entire India, the Bureau of Indian Standards has classified the entire country into four major groups ¡ª Zone V (high intensity) to Zone II (low intensity). ¡°The recent quakes are a warning, but there is no technology to predict earthquakes. We need to have a mitigation plan like having structures that can withstand tremors. Delhi also feels tremors whenever quakes occur in the Himalayas,¡± he added.