4.4 earthquake hits Haryana, Delhi, people flee homes, offices
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New Delhi: An earthquake struck in Haryana's Jhajjar district at 9.04 am Thursday, sending tremors as far as Meerut and Shamli in western Uttar Pradesh, about 200 km from the epicenter, NDTV reported.
The quake measuring around 4.4 on the Richter scale caused panic with residents in several areas of Delhi fleeing their homes.
Household items including fans swayed in the impact of quake which according to the National Institute of Seismology occurred at depth of 10 km.
As the tremor also felt in office areas in Noida and Gurugram, professional left offices after computer systems shook.
It is reported that several places in Haryana including Gurugram, Rohtak, Dadri and Bahadurgarh experienced tremors.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in an advisory asked people not to panic, instead run out of buildings using stairs.
Drivers were asked to pull over and wait in open spaces until the tremors were over.
At least five earthquakes above 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale shook the capital city since 1720, with the residents over the years experiencing tremors of varying intensity, because the area sits in Seismic Zone 4, which has a higher risk of earthquakes.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority has linked earthquakes in north India including the Himalayas to the collision between the Indian tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate.
‘These colliding plates flex, storing energy like a spring, and when the plate's margins finally slip to release energy, an earthquake results,’ the DDMA reportedly stated.
