Low-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.1 hits Delhi: Report

A low-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.1 has hit Delhi, news agency PTI reported on Monday, quoting the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).

The epicentre of the earthquake was at the Delhi-Gurgaon border and it occurred at 1 pm at a depth of 18 kilometre, the NCS said.

Since April, Delhi-NCR has recorded more than 14 quakes of low and medium intensity, PTI reported.

Twin earthquakes within an hour shook Haryana late last month. The tremors were felt in Delhi too.

The first one, a 4-5 magnitude quake, was reported in Rohtak at 9 pm and the second one struck at 10 pm on May 29. Both the earthquakes were shallow.

A 2.5 magnitude earthquake with its epicentre in Faridabad district was recorded by the National Centre for Seismology at 4.24 pm a day before evening.

There was another mild quake on May 15 of 2.2 magnitude with its epicentre at 9 km from central Delhi.

On May 10, people in Delhi and nearby areas felt tremors when a 3.4 magnitude earthquake occurred with its epicentre in Sonia Vihar.

Two earthquakes were also reported on two consecutive days in Delhi in April.

Delhi falls under the fourth-highest zone in India, making it vulnerable to earthquakes. But there haven’t been too many earthquakes which have its epicentre in the national capital. Delhi mostly experiences tremors when a quake hits regions as far as central Asia or the Himalayan ranges, known to be a high-seismic zone.

Seismologists, however, say that it is not unusual for the epicentre of these relatively small earthquakes to be in Delhi and neighbouring Haryana, seismologists said.

They also say that a larger proportion of people have been feeling the earthquake because most people are at home and there is far less noise associated with traffic movement due to the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown.