Late Friday, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale hit Tajikistan. The tremors of the temblor were also felt in Delhi and other parts of north India.
The National Centre for Seismology (NCS), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, changed the data twice before mentioning Tajikistan as the epicenter. Minutes after the tremors were felt in India, the NCS showed the magnitude to be 7.5 and its epicenter 35 km from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. According to this, the NCS website changed it to 6.1 magnitudes, 18 km from Amritsar district in Punjab. Finally, the ministry clarified that the actual epicenter was in Tajikistan.
The earthquake struck the Central Asian country at 10:31 pm. The tremors were felt for more than 30 seconds in the National Capital Region.
Contrary to India's data, the United States Geological Survey, the scientific agency of the US government, showed that the earthquake was of 5.9 magnitudes and hit 35 km west of Murghob in Tajikistan.
Currently, the hashtag #earthquake, 'Tajikistan,' and 'North India' are trending on Twitter in India with scores of people taking to the microblogging site to upload videos of their ceiling fans moving frantically.
No casualties or damage to property have been reported so far.
While strong tremors were felt in the NCR, the earthquake rocked Jammu and Kashmir too.
J&K officials of the disaster management authority said, "A strong earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale occurred in J&K at 10.34 pm on Friday.”
(With Inputs from IANS)
