Delhi epicentre of second quake in less than 24 hours

A low-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.7 shook parts of Delhi on Monday, the National Centre for Seismology said, the second quake to hit the national capital region in less than 24 hours but no report of any damage was received.

The quake, with its epicentre near Wazirpur in northeast Delhi, occurred at 1.26 pm at a shallow depth of 5 km, said JL Gautam, Head (Operations) at NCS, an institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

On Sunday, a moderate intensity quake of magnitude 3.5 hit the national capital at a depth of 8 km. However, unlike Sunday, when people rushed out of their homes in panic, no such report was received on Monday.

A nationwide lockdown is in force due to the coronavirus pandemic and people are staying indoors.

Of the five seismic zones, Delhi falls under the fourth-highest zone, making it vulnerable to earthquakes. But it is rare that Delhi has been the epicentre of a quake. It, however, experiences tremors when a quake hits regions as far as central Asia or the Himalayan ranges, known to be a high-seismic zone.

An earthquake of magnitude 2.8 had hit the national capital in 2004.

Another quake of magnitude 3.4 was recorded in the city in 2001.

The major quakes recorded near the national capital were in Bulandshahr (6.7M) on October 10, 1956, and in Moradabad (5.8M)on August 15, 1966. Both are in western Uttar Pradesh.