5 earthquakes hit Jammu region in a day, educational institutes shut

Five earthquakes jolted the Jammu region on Wednesday and triggered panic among residents, a day after a 5.4 magnitude quake hit the Doda district of the Union Territory.

The fresh earthquakes have prompted the administration to shut down educational institutes in twin mountainous districts of Doda and Kishtwar.

Officials said the earthquakes that occurred in the Jammu region on Wednesday causes some damage to property but there were no reports so far of any casualties.

In Kishtwar, a 3.3 magnitude quake was recorded at 8.29 am. Its epicentre was at a depth of five kilometers, according to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).

Prior to that, tremors of magnitude 3.5 were recorded in Doda at 7.56 am and the epicenter was at a depth of 10 kilometers, data from the NCS showed.

Two more earthquakes were recorded in the early hours of the day as well.

At 2.20 am, a 4.3 magnitude quake was recorded in the Doda district at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to the data.

The other quake, which had a magnitude of 2.8, occurred 74 kilometers east of Katra in Reasi district at 2.43 am, according to the NCS. Its epicentre lay at a depth of five kilometres.

A magnitude 3.4 earthquake, latest in the series, hit Kishtwar around 4pm on Wednesday. The fifth quake to jolt the Jammu region on Wednesday struck at a depth of 5 km, according to the NCS data.

The five fresh earthquakes hit a day after high-intensity tremors jolted the Doda district.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Bhaderwah, Dilmir Chowdhary told PTI that the District Magistrate has directed the closure of all schools to address parental concerns and ensure the safety of the students and subsequently they were shut down.

The ADC appealed to the residents not to panic, as it could exacerbate the situation. Instead, he advised people to take precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incidents.

"In view of aftershocks, we have closed down all the schools in the district. There is nothing to panic about. People should live on ground floors. We expect aftershocks after a big earthquake," Doda Chief Education Officer (CEO)Purushottam Kumar said.

Similarly, officials in Kishtwar also shut down schools in the district as a precautionary measure.

Commutatively, six earthquakes including two higher intensity quakes have hit the region causing cracks in dozens of buildings since Tuesday.

The fresh earthquakes not only triggered panic among people but also brought back fear psychosis of 2013, when the entire region in general and Bhaderwah Valley in particular was exposed to a series of earthquakes that continued to rock the hilly region for 70 days.

Tuesday's quake damaged several buildings in the twin mountainous districts of Doda and Kishtwar. Five people, including two schoolchildren, suffered injuries, while schools were shut as a precautionary measure by the administration.

The earthquake was widely felt in the Jammu and Kashmir region and neighbouring states.

According to the NCS, an analysis of the past five years shows minor earthquakes in the close vicinity of the Doda region are usual seismic activity.