Earthquake: Why is Delhi so vulnerable to tremors
A magnitude 4 earthquake struck Delhi at 5:36 am, causing strong tremors felt in nearby Noida and Ghaziabad as well.
Strong tremors shook Delhi and the surrounding National Capital Region (NCR) area early on Monday. An earthquake of magnitude four hit the national capital at around 5:36 am with a depth of just 5 km, said the National Center for Seismology.
Delhi was the epicentre of the quake, which was also felt in surrounding areas such as Noida and Ghaziabad.
Also read: Earthquake in Delhi: Strong tremors rock national capital, surrounding areas
While the magnitude of the earthquake wasn’t much, people still felt “strong” and “violent” tremors as they shared their reactions and experiences on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Track live updates of Delhi earthquake here.
Why so many earthquakes in Delhi?
Experiencing earthquakes isn’t uncommon in Delhi. The national capital had a similar experience just last month when an earthquake of 7.1 magnitude hit Nepal’s Kathmandu but its tremors were felt in Delhi-NCR.
According to the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), the seismicity, or the frequency of earthquakes, around Delhi might be associated with the Delhi-Haridwar Ridge, a “major geological structure”.
India has been divided into several zones which indicate the frequency of earthquakes in a particular region. Delhi is located in Zone IV which, according to the DDMA, has “fairly high seismicity”. This makes Delhi a “high-risk area” when it comes to earthquakes. Generally, the earthquakes in Delhi are of magnitude 5-6. However, an earthquake of magnitude 7-8 is an “occasional” occurrence in Delhi.
Since 1720, only five quakes of magnitude 5.5 to 6.7 have been recorded in Delhi or surrounding areas. Delhi-Haridwar ridge and Delhi-Moradabad fault are two major lineaments that pass through Delhi and make it more sensitive to earthquakes. "Both have the potential of generating earthquakes of magnitude up to MSK VIII will be quite probable in the Delhi territory,” says DDMA.
Several other weak zones and faults are also near Delhi, such as the Mahendragarh-Dehradun subsurface fault, Moradabad fault, Sohna fault, great boundary fault, Delhi-Sargodha ridge, Yamuna River lineament, Ganga River lineament among others, according to the National Center for Seismology.
Delhi's proximity to the Himalayas, which are seismically very active, also makes it prone to tremors.
The classification of areas into seismic zones is based on “subjective estimates of intensity from available information on earthquake occurrence, geology and tectonics of the country” and is a continuous process which is subject to change as more information becomes available.
