5.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Gujarat; epicentre at Rajkot

Ahmedabad: An earthquake measuring 5.8 magnitudes on the Richter Scale struck 122 km north-northwest f Rajkot, Gujarat at 8:13 pm on Sunday (June 14), according to National Center for Seismology. 

Gujarat has witnessed three major earthquakes in the past with the most devastating in 2001, another in Anjar in 1956 and the third in 1918 in the Rann of Kutch. As per reports, the earthquake that struck Gujarat on January 26, 2001, measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and lasted for a little over 100 seconds. 

Over the past two months, more than a dozen earthquake and mild tremors have struck the national capital. 

According to some top geologists of the country, 10 low to moderate intensity tremors, shaking Delhi-NCR in the span of one and a half month indicate that a powerful earthquake could strike India's National Capital in near future. Unfortunately, Delhi falls under high risk seismic zone-4 and its border towns are witness to mushrooming growth of high rise private buildings, plenty of them which do not adhere to mandatory guidelines of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) set for earthquake resistant construction.

On June 3, a medium intensity earthquake of magnitude 3.0 occurred near Noida in the national capital region. The epicentre of the quake was 19 km southeast of Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of western Uttar Pradesh adjoining Delhi.

Since April 12 to May 29 this year, ten earthquakes have been recorded in Delhi-NCR by National Centre for Seismology. During this period, four tremors in Uttarakhand and six in Himachal Pradesh were also recorded.

Most of these earthquakes were of low magnitude measuring from 2.3 to 4.5. However, a series of such earthquakes ostensibly warn of a major earthquake to hit Delhi in coming days. One of the reasons for increasing numbers of tremors hitting Delhi is that the local fault system here is quite active. Such fault systems around Delhi are capable of producing an earthquake of magnitude around 6 to 6.5, IANS quoted Indian Metrology Departmen official as saying.

A study also revealed that parts of south and central Delhi are more safer then areas which are located near the riverbed of Yamuna.