Delhi hit by another low-intensity earthquake, epicentre near Gurgaon border

A low-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.1 hit Delhi today, according to the National Centre for Seismology. The earthquake was epicentre around 13 km of the bordering Gurgaon and had a depth of 18 km, the agnecy said.

The Delhi-NCR area has witnessed over 10 low to mild intensity earthquakes over the past 2 months with the latest tremor being felt in the Delhi-Gurgaon border region on Monday.

Since April 12, Delhi alone has reported four low intensity quakes-- April 12 (3.5), April 13 (2.7), May 10 (3.4) and May 15 (2.2).

The series of earthquakes in Delhi have raised concerns of a bigger incident in the future. However, experts have said although earthquakes cannot be predicted, the seismic activity could be unsual phenomenon.

Delhi falls under the fourth-highest zone in India, making it vulnerable to earthquakes. But there haven't been too many earthquakes which have its epicentre in the national capital. Delhi mostly experiences tremors when a quake hits regions as far as central Asia or the Himalayan ranges, known to be a high-seismic zone. Seismologists, however, say that it is not unusual for the epicentre of these relatively small earthquakes to be in Delhi and neighbouring Haryana, seismologists said.

They also say that a larger proportion of people have been feeling the earthquake because most people are at home and there is far less noise associated with traffic movement due to the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown.

All the recents 13 earthquakes recorded in the Delhi-NCR region were of low to medium intensity - April 12 - Delhi (3.5); May 6 - Faridabad (2.2), May 10 - Delhi (3.4); May 15 - Delhi (2.2), May 28 - Faridabad (2.5); May 29 - Rohtak (4.5 and 2.9); June 1 - Rohtak (1.8 and 3) and June 3 - Faridabad (3.2). Of these 13, only the quake occured at Rohtak was above 4 which falls under the medium intensity quake.

According to the macro seismic zoning map of entire India, the Bureau of Indian Standards has classified the entire counrty into four major groups - Zone V (high intensity) to Zone II (low intensity). Around 30% of Delhi falls under Zone V, whike the rest is under Zone IV.