Earthquake rattles NCR for 16th time in two months

All earthquakes in Delhi-NCR in the past two months have been mild with only two above 3.5 magnitude.

There was a mild earthquake near Delhi on Monday. It was of 2.1 magnitude located east southeast of Rohtak at 1 pm, latitude 28.85 and longitude 76.76. This is the 16th earthquake to be recorded in Delhi NCR since April.

The National Center for Seismology is monitoring the earthquakes. (Shutterstock/Representative image)

Delhi-NCR witnessed at least 14 earthquakes in the past two months with a magnitude 3 earthquake recorded near Gautam Budh Nagar on Wednesday night according to data with the National Center for Seismology.

All earthquakes in the past two months have been mild with only two above 3.5 magnitude. “The earthquakes are being monitored and will be studied by a team at NCS. Though it’s common to experience mild tremors in this region,” the helpline said.

J L Gautam, head (operations) at NCS said it was not abnormal to record so many earthquakes within a couple of months in Delhi NCR region. “These are non-linear. There can be several mild earthquakes in a very short period. Minor adjustments of the plates keep happening,” he said on Monday.

“There are a number of small faults in this region. The earthquake last night was in Uttar Pradesh in Gautam Buddha Nagar. There is the Mathura fault; Moradabad fault; Delhi Haridwar ridge; Delhi Sargoda fault; Mahendergarh and Dehradun fault so small earthquakes happen in this area. It’s not abnormal. That doesn’t mean we cannot expect a big earthquake. Earthquakes cannot be forecast,” Gautam had said last week.