Earthquake jolts Uttarakhand at midnight

People in many parts of Uttarakhand were jolted at the midnight when an earthquake hit the hill state, officials said on Friday. The tremors were felt in Bagheshar, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Bhimtal.

People rushed out of their houses and spent the night under the open sky. Officials said that the tremors were felt for about ten seconds and that the intensity of the earthquake was measured 4.1 on the Richter scale.

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The epicentre of the earthquake was 15km below the earth at Pithoragarh.

At the time of writing this report no loss of life was reported.

"Since it was around mid-night, we cannot confirm if there was any damage of buildings or property but certainly there was no loss of life," a government official said.