5.4-magnitude quake rocks Nepal; tremors felt in Delhi-NCR, 3rd time in a week

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake shook parts of Nepal, Delhi-NCR and Uttarakhand on Saturday evening, the National Center for Seismology said, though there were no immediate reports of damage.

“Earthquake strikes Nepal at 19:57 Hrs with a Magnitude of 5.4 and depth of 10km with Epicentre at 212km SE of Joshimath,Uttarakhand,” the National Center for Seismology tweeted.

The region shook again three days after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake epicentred in Nepal left six people dead in the neighbouring country. This is the third earthquake to hit Nepal in a week.

Following the earthquake of magnitude 6.3 that occurred near Dipayal Silgadhi in western Nepal’s district Doti at 1.57am, tremors were felt in India from Vadodara, Gujarat, in the west to Siliguri, West Bengal, in the east up to Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, in the south, said the NCS.

A preliminary report by NCS said the agency had received more than 260 ‘felt reports’ through its website and mobile app from Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

The epicentre in western Nepal lies 85 km south-east of Dharchula in Uttarakhand, 90 km east-south-east of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, 140 Km northeast of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, 150 Km east- south-east of Almorah in Uttarakhand, 260 Km north of Lucknow and 380 Km east-north-east of Delhi.

The event was well recorded by 85 broadband seismic stations of NCS. The analysis of seismic data showed that the event is located between Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and Main Central Thrust (MCT) and guarded by North Almora Thrust (NAT) and South Almora Thrust (SAT) that provide a very apt location for triggering the mainshock due to appreciable structural heterogeneity.

The recorded earthquakes as per EQ Catalogue of NCS revealed that the region has been associated with moderate to large earthquakes with varying magnitude (M:2 and above). Earthquakes of varying magnitude 5 and above had occurred in and around 200km of the present source zone between Jan 1, 2010 and November 8, 2022.