Medium intensity earthquake jolts Delhi, NCR

After a bomb blast at the high court in Delhi on Wednesday, the national capital was rocked by a strong earthquake around 11.34 pm. The earthquake measured 4.2 on the Richter Scale.

"An earthquake of 4.2 magnitude was recorded at 23.28.18 Indian standard time. The epicenter of the quake was near New Delhi-Haryana border. It was a "slight' earthquake but was felt strongly because the epicentre was so close. The epicenter falls on 28.6 North latitude and 77.0 east longitude," a senior official at MET department told rediff.com.

The tremors were felt for less than ten seconds. The quake sent shivers among citizens who ran out of the high-rise buildings. There were no immediate reports of any casualty.

The fire brigade and police said they have not received any immediate calls of casualty or damage.

Delhi is among thirty important cities in the country that fall into high risk seismic zone, while Srinagar is among places at very high risk of earthquakes, the government said on Wednesday.

While Delhi, Amritsar and Chandigarh fall under zone IV (high risk), Srinagar comes under zone V (very high risk), he said. As per seismic map of India prepared by Bureau of Indian Standards 58.6 per cent areas of the country fall into earthquake zone V (very high risk), IV (high risk) and III (moderate risk).

With inputs from PTI