Gurgaon, March 5 (IANS): A 4.9-magnitude temblor shook the Indian capital and its adjoining areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) this afternoon. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The epicentre was near Bahadurgarh town near the Haryana-Delhi border region, just 35 km from New Delhi, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
"The Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) felt slight intensity tremors, which measured 4.9 on the Richter Scale. The epicentre was in the Haryana-Delhi region," R.S Dattatryam, director, Seismology Division, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) told IANS.
The Ministry of Earth and Sciences said in a statement: "No damage to life or property reported so far. The epicenter of the quake was in the Bahadurgarh Haryana-Delhi border region." According to the IMD, the tremor was felt at 1.11 pm. The residents and office-goers in many areas in Delhi as well as Gurgaon and Noida felt the temblor.
Sources in Rohtak said the boundary wall of a school in Mayna village of Rohtak district collapsed. The district authorities, however, could not confirm the incident.
Some people working and living in high-rise buildings in Gurgaon, which is home to offices of several MNCs and leading Indian companies, were asked to vacate the buildings as the tremors were felt for over 10 seconds.
American Express, Aviva, Excel and Indiatimes.com, were some of the offices from which employees came out for some time.
T.K. Shriwatava of Indiatimes said: "We were told that the building was tremor proof, but we were so scared and rushed out of our office."
"Sitting in an office on the 12th floor in (south Delhi's) Nehru Place, I felt it very strongly like somebody shaking my chair. I screamed and asked my colleagues to go outside. We noticed people from other offices also rushing outside. There was a general air of panic. Luckily there was no repeat tremor," Mahi Singh, a MNC employer said.
People in many areas ran out of their homes. "I was in bed recovering from surgery when I was shaken awake by the quake. I tried to rush outside, limping," Ramkant Mahant from east Delhi said.
In other parts of the capital too, people ran out of their homes in fright when their cupboards and fans started swaying. "All the small objects on tables, cases started shaking, I felt it for over five seconds, followed by a rumbling noise, and an iron bowl rattled and was falling off," said Rumu Banerjee of Chittaranjan Park in south Delhi.
Throughout the city, people called up relatives and friends, and asked after their well-being. However, the IMD official asked the public not to panic as it was slight intensity tremor.
"It is a slight intensity tremor, which was felt in the Delhi and NCR areas. We ask the public not to panic. No infrastructural damage is expected from the tremor of such low magnitude. At most, there may be some plaster falling off in weak buildings," Dattatryam said. "The possibility of aftershocks are very minimal for such a low intensity quake," he added.
