Uttarakhand earthquake today

Residents of Delhi NCR were left in a state of panic as a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Afghanistan on Tuesday, sending strong tremors in parts of India. The tremors felt in India were of around 4.2 magnitudes, while the tremors in Pakistan were also very strong. Now, an older prediction of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) has come forward where scientists have claimed that a strong earthquake is bound to hit India soon, with the epicenter likely to fall in the Himalayan region. While speaking to ANI last month, NGRI's chief scientist Dr N Purnachandra Rao said that due to the movement of the tectonic plates, there is a lot of stress built up in the Himalayan region, which might cause a massive earthquake, which can be of over 7 magnitude. The earthquake expert said, “We have a strong network of 18 seismograph stations in Uttarakhand. The region referred to as the seismic gap between Himachal and the western part of Nepal including Uttarakhand is prone to earthquakes that might occur at any time.” Dr Rao also said that the Indian plate is moving by around 5 cm per year, increasing stress along the Himalayas and increasing the possibility of a higher-intensity earthquake hitting India soon, with Himachal or Uttarakhand, possibly Nepal, being the epicenter. The NGRI said that there is a possibility that the magnitude of this earthquake can be as high as 8 on the Richter scale, which can cause a lot of damage, and is higher than the magnitude of the Turkey-Sy...

Ahead of yatra, fresh cracks spotted on Badrinath highway Soon after the Uttarakhand government announced the Char Dham yatra commencement dates on Saturday, around 10 more large cracks were reported to have been found on the Badrinath highway near Joshimath. 3 mild-intensity quakes in 12 hrs jolt Uttarkashi Three earthquakes, all of slight intensity, jolted the seismically-vulnerable Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand within 12 hours on Sunday. The first, a 2.5-magnitude tremor, was recorded at 12:45am in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The epicentre was in the Siror forest area of Uttarkashi, the National Centre of Seismology said. Another quake followed soon after in the same area, but the intensity was too low to record the magnitude locally, Devendra Patwal, district disaster management officer of Uttarkashi, told TOI. Char Dham yatra to begin on April 22 amid Joshimath fears This year’s yatra will be held against the backdrop of the land subsidence in Joshimath, about 45km away from Badrinath, and it may prove a challenge for the authorities. Known as the ‘gateway to Badrinath’, Joshimath is the last major halt for pilgrims travelling on the lone route to the holy city. At 10:10am on Sunday, another earthquake of 1.8 magnitude jolted the area. The epicentre was in the northeastern Uttarkashi. The depth of the tremor was recorded at 5km. Uttarkashi falls in Zone V (maximum risk) of India's seismic zonal map. Experts have been predicting that an earthquak...

On Sunday, around 1 pm, tremors were felt in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The magnitude of the earthquake was 3.0. The depth of the earthquake was 10 kilometers. Alos, an earthquake of magnitude 3.8 hit the western part of Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday afternoon, PTI reported. The National Center for Seismology said that the quake was recorded at 12.12 pm.

Scientists at the While the Himalayan region is known to be a seismic zone, the warning comes in the wake of the calamitous “Uttarakhand falls in a seismic gap where a great earthquake is waiting to occur,” Dr Purnachandra Rao, chief scientist, Seismology, NGRI told DH. A great earthquake – defined as a tremor of magnitude 8 or above – had occurred at Kangra in Himachal Pradesh in 1905 and at the Bihar-Nepal border in 1934. No major disturbance took place in between – ie Uttarakhand - for a century or so. “Several studies, calculations show that the chances of a major earthquake are high along the stretch in between Himachal and Nepal, i.,e the whole of Uttarakhand,” says Rao. Read | “The stress built up due to tectonic plate movement in the Himalayas has to be released. We cannot predict when, but it is expected sooner or later in the form of an earthquake.” NGRI, a premier research institute in solid earth, is also monitoring the Joshimath subsidence, a geological event that has kept the Uttarakhand authorities and the Centre on alert as they carry out evacuation efforts. “We have deployed seismographs and the infra-sound instrument too, which is used to measure tectonic movements, to monitor the subsidence and are receiving real-time data here. We have observed some variations in the seismic signals at Joshimath. We are yet to analyze the information fully to come out with findings,” said Rao. Another Hyderabad-based research institute, ISRO-National Remote Sensing Cent...