Quake jolts Bahraich, Lucknow trembles

LUCKNOW: When most of the people in the city were fast asleep a little after midnight on Saturday, the earth shook mildly for about 10 seconds at 1.12 am due to an earthquake of the magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter Scale near Gulariya, located in plains of the Terai region of Bahraich along the Indo-Nepal border.
The tremors, however, were felt by some who were awake for some work or were taking part in Janmashtami celebrations. But, before they could realise the situation, things turned calm again. Many among them took to social media to inquire whether the 'little shaking' was due to the earthquake.

A few checked earthquake alerts on the official twitter handle of National Centre for Seismology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and realised that it was indeed an earthquake, not strong enough, but reviving memories of the moderate earthquakes that hit in April and May 2015.
Director, Geological Survey of India (GSI), Lucknow, PK Singh confirmed to TOI that a mild earthquake of 4.9 magnitudes occurred with epicentre near Gulariya, close to the Nepal border at the depth of 93.1 km at 1 hour, 12 minutes and 49.6 seconds of Indian Standard Time. The latitude and longitude of occurrence was 28.087 degrees north and 81.285 degrees east respectively."
"As per precisely recorded data by GSI's seismo geodetic network it was lower than the five Richter scale and was not that worrisome. Earthquakes below 5 magnitude lead to some minor cracks in buildings located near the epicentre," he added.
Explaining further, Prof Dhruvsen Singh of geology department, Lucknow University, said, "The intensity of the earthquake lowers as the waves travel a distance. As a result, the intensity in the city was much lower than the epicentre."
He said that 'magnitude' and 'intensity' are different characteristics of earthquakes. Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake and is determined from measurements on seismographs. Intensity, however, measures the strength of shaking produced by the earthquake at a certain location and is determined through the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, he stated. He added that Lucknow lies in seismic zone three which is less prone to earthquakes. People who felt tremors also shared their experiences on social media. "When I was returning home after celebrating Janmasthmi, for a few seconds while over the Nishatganj flyover, I felt an unusual vibration in my car. I could not understand and thought the car hit some stone on the ground, but later while scrolling through social media, I came to know that it was an earthquake," said Indiranagar resident Dipesh Agnihotri.
Gomtinagar resident Paras Kumar, who works in an IT company said, "I stayed back in the office till late to complete project work and while coming downstairs, I felt as if the stairs were shaking. I returned home and measured my blood pressure but later learned from the news that it was an earthquake and nothing was wrong with my health."