Uttarakhand: Earthquake of 2.1 magnitude hits Uttarkashi

Earlier in July, an earthquake of magnitude 3.2 had hit the district, which followed a 2.7 quake on January 29.

An earthquake of magnitude 2.1 hit Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on Friday at 1.42am, around 5km beneath the earth’s surface, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS).

Representational image.

Uttarakhand falls in Zone IV and Zone V of the earthquake map of India. Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts, with some areas of Almora, Champawat, Tehri, Uttarkashi and Pauri district, fall in Zone V while the remaining area come under Zone IV.

Earlier in July, an earthquake of magnitude 3.2 had hit the district, which followed a 2.7 quake on January 29. On January 25, an earthquake of magnitude 2.4 hit Uttarkashi district at 5.47 am. A day earlier on January 24, two earthquakes of magnitude 2.7 and 3.5 hit Uttarkashi district. The first earthquake of magnitude 2.7 occurred around 5 km beneath the earth’s surface at 7.41 am, while the second earthquake of magnitude occurred around 5 km beneath the earth’s surface at 8.19 am, according to NCS.

Uttarkashi has reported many earthquakes in the last few years. On September 6 last year, an earthquake of 3.0 magnitude hit Uttarkashi district. On May 7 last year, a 2.6 magnitude earthquake was reported in Uttarkashi district. On January 18 last year, two earthquakes of magnitude 2.8 and 2.7 hit Uttarkashi district, the first one at 8.30 am and the second one at 9.32 am. On October 5 2023, an earthquake of magnitude 3.2 hit Uttarkashi district. On September 11, 2023 an earthquake of magnitude 2.9 hit Uttarkashi district. On August 29, 2023 two earthquakes of magnitude 2.8 and 2.5 had hit Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi and Bageshwar districts respectively.

In October 1991, Uttarkashi reported one of the biggest earthquakes (also known as the Garhwal earthquake) in the state’s history with a magnitude of 6.8

The Himalayas being the youngest mountain chain (around 50 million years old) in the world, which is still rising (around 5 mm per year) due to the Indian plate folding under the Tibetan plate, Uttarakhand reports high seismic activity, with most areas falling under Seismic Zones IV and V.