A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck near Amritsar at 10.34 pm on Friday with tremors felt as far as Delhi, prompting people to rush out of their homes, sending tremors across north India, including Delhi-NCR and parts of Uttar Pradesh. There was no immediate report of loss of lives or casualties.
The epicentre of the earthquake was 21 km from Amritsar in Punjab, according to India’s National Center for Seismology.
The earthquake struck at 10:34 pm IST at a depth of 10 km from the surface.
Strong tremors were felt in Delhi and surrounding areas for several seconds.
“Earthquake tremors felt in Delhi. Praying for everyone’s safety,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake was felt in Afghanistan.
Tremors were also felt in Pakistan’s Islamabad, Lahore and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces. There were no reports of loss to life or property in the neighbouring country. The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.4, according to Geo news.
Earthquake of Magnitude:6.3, Occurred on 12-02-2021, 22:31:33 IST, Lat: 38.00 & Long: 73.58, Depth: 74 Km ,Location: 285km ENE of Fayzabad, Afghanistanfor more information https://t.co/PxX3VNYiFY @ndmaindia pic.twitter.com/2F8ndn7p5v
— National Center for Seismology (@NCS_Earthquake) February 12, 2021
“The epicentre is in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region where the Indo Australian plate is colliding with the Eurasian plate. It’s seismically highly active area. The tremors have been felt across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi NCR. However, we haven’t received any reports of damage yet,” JL Gautam, head of operations at National Centre for Seismology (NCS), said.