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Quake epicentre was in the UP hills

The earthquake that hit northern India last night and claimed nearly 40 lives in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Uttar Pradesh measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.

Officials of the Seismological Survey of India said that the latitude of the quake was 30.2 degrees north and the longitude was 79.5 degrees east. The epicentre of the quake was somewhere in the Uttar Pradesh hills.

The tremor that hit at 0035 hours last night lasted 30 seconds. Several aftershocks of lesser intensity were felt following the first tremor.

The intensity of last night's quake was more than the ones felt in Jabalpur (6), Latur (6.3) and Uttarkashi (6.6) in recent times which had claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands injured.

Last night's quake occurred in the 'zone 5' of the country, which is classified as 'very quake-prone'.

UNI

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