Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Several people were jolted out of their sleep and some ran out of their homes as tremors were felt in Delhi and other parts of northern India following an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale that hit Pakistan early Wednesday.The earthquake hit few minutes before 2 p.m. The epicentre was in southwest Pakistan, said the Indian Meteorological Department.

Tremors of the quake were felt in Delhi, Jaipur, Barmer, Ganganagar and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and parts of Haryana.

While one person was killed in Pakistan due to a wall collapse, no casualties or damage have been reported in India.

Residents in the national capital, however, rushed out of their houses after feeling the tremors.

“We were sleeping when suddenly we heard the sounds of furniture rattling against each other. We immediately rushed out,” said Archana Kaul, a resident of Sarojini Nagar area of Delhi.

The fear was greater in the densely populated areas.

“The tremors were strong as they shook us out of sleep. But we remained inside as we could not have reached an open space even had we rushed out,” Shanti Luthra, a resident of Lakshmi Nagar, an area with high density of population and closely built structures, told IANS.

A US Geological Service report said the epicentre of the earthquake was located 45 km from Dalbandin in southwest Pakistan. It said the focal depth of the earthquake was 84 km.

According to the IMD, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 74 km from ground level. An IMD official said the area is located at the plate boundary of Indian and Eurasian plates, and plate movement was the reason behind the quake.

“Its a plate boundary region and plate activities were the reason behind the quake,” the IMD official told IANS.

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake had devastated northern Pakistan and parts of Kashmir in October 2008, killing thousands of people.