2 Earthquakes Shake J&K: Panic wave among people

Srinagar, Aug 20: Two consecutive earthquakes with first one of magnitude 4.7 and 2nd measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale occurred on Tuesday morning in Jammu and Kashmir, triggering panic among the people who rushed outside their homes.The first earthquake occurred at 06:45:57IST, a local metreological department official said. It was followed by 2nd within few minutes. The first earthquake was at the latitude 34.37 degrees north and longitude 74.16 degrees east, the meteorological department official here told GNS.Regarding 2nd one, the official said it measured 4.8 and occured at 6:52:29 IST. It was at Lat: 34.20 N, Long: 74.31 E, he said.

The epicenter was Baramulla for both the jolts and occurred at depth of 5 and 10 kilometers respectively, he said. There was no immediate report of any damage in the earthquakes which caused panic among the people who rushed out of their houses across Kashmir Valley.   

According to the seismic zoning map, prepared by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), India has been divided into four zones viz. zone V, IV, III and II. Out of these zones, Zone V exhibits the highest seismic risk and zone II has the least.All districts of Kashmir valley and Doda district fall in Seismic Zone-V, and the rest of the districts fall in Seismic Zone-IV. In 2005, a massive quake jolted Jammu and Kashmir. The 7.6 quake caused devastation, mostly in frontier villages particularly in Baramulla (Uri) and Kupwara district.(GNS)