Date:27/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/27/stories/2007112758050100.htm

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Delhi jolted out of sleep by quake

Staff Reporter

Many areas in Haryana and U.P. also shaken; no loss of life or property

Noida, Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Faridabad, Meerut and Gurgaon shaken
Widespread alarm in high-rise residential apartments across East Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Capital woke up to the sound of a different beat in the early hours of Monday morning with a minor earthquake rattling the city and neighbouring areas in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The quake, which had its epicentre at Bahadurgarh in Haryana, sent thousands of people scurrying out of the cosy confines of their quilts to the misty early-morning outdoors.

There was no loss of life or property.

According to the Director of Seismology at the Indian Meteorology Department, Dattatrayam, the earthquake was a “slight magnitude event with an intensity of 4.3 on the Richter scale. It occurred at 4-42 a.m. with its epicentre at latitude 28.6 degrees and longitude 77 degrees”.

Jolts of the quake were perceived in neighbouring Noida, Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Faridabad, Meerut and Gurgaon, compelling residents to dash out of their beds to safety outdoors.

Though causing no material or mortal damage, the quake marked its presence by shaking the very foundation of multi-storey flats.

“I woke up to the ominous rattling of doors and windowpanes and realised immediately that we were being hit by an earthquake. I shook my husband awake and rushed downstairs,” said Astha Raina, a resident of Siddhartha Extension near Nizamuddin.

Nirmal Pandey, a resident of Mayur Vihar, said the first thing that came to his mind on sensing the vibrations was his one-year-old child. “I immediately picked him up even before rousing the other members of the family and ran out of the house. But by the time we had made our way to open ground, the tremors had ceased. Luckily for us the quake was a mild one. This is a life-threatening scenario, particularly for the residents of apartments.”

The earthquake rang a similar alarm for many others who voiced their concern about the Capital’s “earthquake safety”, especially the hundreds of colonies in East Delhi across the Yamuna which are peppered with several high-rise buildings and multi-storey residential complexes.

There were, of course, quite a few who slept through it all. V. A. V. Raman, Professor of Geo-morphology at Bhagat Singh College, said he was relieved that “the ordeal was over and done with even before I could wake up. However, my brother who ran out immediately after sensing the tremors noted that there were hardly any people on the roads in the neighbourhood. Maybe they had slept through the quake the way I had”.