Earthquake of magnitude 5.7 at India-Nepal border, tremors felt in Delhi

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New Delhi, April 04, 2011:  An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale and with an epicentre in Nepal shook parts of north India, including capital Delhi and its suburbs on Monday evening. There are no reports yet of damage or loss of life.

Reports from Noida and Gurgaon and parts of Delhi said strong tremors were felt, with furniture shaking in buildings. Tremors were also felt in Lucknow and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and mild tremors were reported in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh too.
 
Indian Meteorological Department said the 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 5.02 PM and was of "moderate" intensity. However, the US Geological Survey Department put the magnitude at 5.4 on its website.

"The quake was epicentred at Indo-Nepal border," the officials said, adding, "There will be no aftershocks."
Rediff.com

The epicentre, on the Nepal side of the India-Nepal border, was 130 km away from Haldwani in Uttaranchal and 363 km from Delhi.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has said that the nuclear power plant closest to the epicentre of the earthquake, in Narora, UP, is unaffected. Both reactor units of the Narora nuclear plant were operating normally, the NPCIL said. The quick assurance came in view of the huge quake and tsunami in Japan last month crippling a nuclear plant which has been leaking radiation ever since.

Surfers are writing in at NDTV.com to describe their experience. S Gopi wrote in from Munsyari at the Indo-Nepal border to say, "Experienced strong tremors in Munsyari, located at the remote area of Indo-Nepal border...heavily shocking the people...But..we are safe...Thanks God."

"The earthquake was pretty strong and was there for more than 15-20 seconds. It shook the entire building," wrote Pankaj from Noida.

Gaurav Chopra said, "It was around 5 then everything in the office (Gurgaon) started shaking... The monitors were shaking and people started running to the open area around the buildings..There was a sense of panic for sure..."

 

Courtesy: NDTV