Much of U'khand feels tremors, no casualty or damage

People rushed out of their homes and offices across Uttarakhand today as an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the richter scale shook whole of north India but there was no report of casualty or damage in the state.
Men, women and children scampered out of residential buildings as did people from their offices and business establishments as fans, TV sets and flower pots shook under the effect of the quake.
People were also seen standing outside their offices for at least half an hour after the quake fearing aftershocks. Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre officials said there has been no report of any damage to life and property from anywhere so far even as tremors were felt in several areas of the state including Mussoorie, Dehradun, Haridwar, Roorkee and Rishikesh.

"The possibility of damage anywhere in Uttarakhand is very remote as the epicentre of the quake was over a thousand KM away in the Hindukush region of Afghanistan.
But the tremors were felt everywhere in the state prompting people to run onto the streets," DMMC Executive Director Piyush Rautela told PTI.
"However, the powerful quake must serve as a wake-up call for us so that we are prepared to deal with high magnitude tremors in the future," Rautela said.
Epicentered in the Hindukush region of Afghanistan, the quake had a depth of 190 km, the MeT office here said.