Quake hits at Indo-Myanmar border, tremors felt in several parts of India

An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit Myanmar, tremors of which shook the northeast, several parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and even Delhi and NCR on Wednesday.

Jolts were also felt in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, said J L Gautam, Operations Head at the National Centre for Seismology.

There was no immediate report of any casualty or major damage.

According to National Centre for Seismology, the earthquake occurred around 7:25 Ppm at a depth of 134 km. The US Geological Service said the epicenter of the earthquake measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and was 74 km South East of Mawlaik in Myanmar.

"The epicenter is in Myanmar, some 100 km off the India- Myanmar border. Since the quake occurred at a depth of 134 km, the impact could be felt at a large distance," Gautam said.

This is the second quake in the day in the northeast as a medium intensity temblor measuring 4.6 hit areas around Manipur capital Imphal at 9:26 am.

In West Bengal, the impact was more in the northern districts. Metro Railway service was stopped for five minutes immediately after the quake, Metro spokesperson Indrani Banerjee said.

Tremors were felt in Patna, Begusarai, Vaishali, Kishangaj and other districts of Bihar, Patna MET director A K Sen said.

In neighbouring Jharkhand, there were jolts in Ranchi, Dumka, Godda, Deoghar, Sahibganj and Jamshedpur, geologist Nitish Priyadarshi said.

Officials at the Regional Seismological Centre in Shillong said the quake was located at latitude 23 degree north and longitude 94.9 degree east.

In Guwahati, some people reported cracks in buildings while there was power outage for some time in Shillong.

Tremors were also felt in the northeastern states of Mizoram and Nagaland.

All the northeastern states are categorised under zone V in the country's seismological map and are considered highly vulnerable.

In Odisha, the Meteorological Centre said the epicentre of the earthquake was at a distance about 985 km from Bhubaneswar in the direction of East-North-East.

Apart from capital Bhubaneswar, tremors were felt in different places including Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Paradip, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Angul, Balasore and Puri.

The tremors sparked panic among people in many areas as people swiftly moved out of buildings, particularly multi- storied and high-rise structures. 

Image: A police outpost building collapses after tremors were felt in Imphal, Manipur. Photograph: ANI/Twitter