4.5-magnitude earthquake felt in North Bengal, no damage reported

KOLKATA: An earthquake, measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, shook parts of North Bengal on Friday morning.

The epicentre of the quake was 29 km from Tadong in Sikkim at a depth of 10 km, officials said, adding that the impact was felt in parts of North Bengal namely Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Dhupguri, and Malbazar, among others.

Officials said that the tremor was felt around 6.27 a.m. However, because of the low-intensity quake, no damage was reported from anywhere.

As per reports available, mild quakes were also felt in some parts of Meghalaya as well as bordering Nepal and Bhutan.

Eyewitnesses said that when the mild quake was felt in parts of North Bengal, most people were in their houses with many of them still sleeping. Those who were out of their morning walk schedule could feel the impact of the quake first.

The tremor created panic among the local people in parts of North Bengal, with many of them seen rushing out of their houses.

To recall, in November last year, an earthquake of 3.6 on the Richter scale was felt in the Alipurduar district, also in North Bengal. The depth of the earthquake was 14 kilometres.

Earlier, similar earthquake tremors were felt in several districts of North Bengal, including Siliguri, when the intensity was 5.3 on the Richter scale. At that time too, tremors could be felt in neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan as well as parts of northeastern India.