An earthquake was reported in northeast India that occurred on Wednesday. Mahesh Palawat, the head of the forecasting team says, “this earthquake was of moderate intensity and has measured at 5.9 on the Richter scale.” The earthquake hit many parts of northeast India. Earthquakes in India are a common phenomenon but even then the awareness on earthquake safety is still quite less among us.
The earthquake that hit northeast India was felt in parts of Guwahati, Itanagar, Kohima and Imphal. The earthquake jolted all these regions at 7:12 in the morning and its epicenter was 89 km underneath the earth’s crust along the Indo-Mayanmar border. Officials at the Regional Seismological Centre at Guwahati said that this earthquake could have caused damage to life and property had it been anything more than 5.9 on the Richter scale. Had it been severe, it could have hit many unalarmed or even people asleep early morning at seven.
But although the earthquake hit only for a few seconds, it rocked all the major cities and towns in northeast India. H. Lallenmawia, Joint Director of Mizoram Geology and Mineral Resources department said the epicentre was in Phek district of Nagaland. Dr. Lallenmawia also said that the technical information about the quake was received from the seismological centre of the North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat in Assam.
Reports have come in from Imphal as well, where officials say the quake lasted in Manipur for almost a minute. However no reports of damage to life or property has come from any region but fear stricken people who ran out of their homes to protect themselves are scared that quake affects could be felt again. Skymet officials say “people’s fear is obvious seeing the increase in the number of earthquakes and other such disasters in India in the last few years”.
Read this to educate you and your community on what measures to take and how to be safe, before, during and after an earthquake.
http://www.skymetweather.com/content/2012/10/ready-to-shake-out/
Photo by CECAR
