According to reports by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), in the early hours of January 18, an earthquake of magnitude 4.9 jolted Basar town in Arunachal Pradesh.
About the Earthquake
The epicentre of the earthquake, which occurred at 4.30am, was at the depth of 10 kilometres and at 148 km north-northwest of Basar.
The National Centre for Seismology (NCS), took the incident to their official Twitter handle where they wrote, “Earthquake of Magnitude:4.9, Occurred on 18-01-2022, 04:29:30 IST, Lat: 29.16 & Long: 93.97, Depth: 10 Km, Location: 148 km NNW of Basar, Arunachal Pradesh, India.”
Previous jolts in Assam
Earlier, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), informed that On January 17, two earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 and 3.8 hit parts of the North East region in a span of 30 minutes. Fortunately, no loss of life or damage to property was reported during the incident.
The first earthquake of magnitude 3.5 took place at 2.11 AM and the epicentre was in Cachar district of Assam. The depth of the quake was 35 km.
The second tremor, informed by the nodal agency of the Centre for monitoring of earthquake that magnitude 3.8 was recorded at 2.39 AM with the epicentre in Manipur’s Kangpokpi area in which the depth of the tremor was 20 km.
Besides, three more jolts hit various parts of Manipur since the beginning of the new year, including two on January 4 in Tamenglong and Chandel areas.
Quake in Northeast
Scientists Nilutpal Bora and Prakash Barman stated that the North East was a highly fragile and earthquake-prone zone and needed to have an integrative disaster plan to tackle high-intensity earthquakes. However, disaster mitigation policy makers in the region were yet to tap adequately into the scientific data available on earthquakes, they added.
They said, “There is a considerable knowledge and policy gap regarding earthquakes. Scientific research findings on the Kopili fault earthquake zone have hardly made it into disaster reduction policies. Bridging this gap is key to formulating any meaningful earthquake damage mitigation plans.”
Other experts said that the considerable knowledge and policy regarding earthquakes in North East India would have to be fixed if effective quake mitigation plans are to be formulated.
Quake of 2021 in Assam
Previously, on April 28, 2021 a big earthquake shook Assam which counted 6.4 on the Richter Scale. The quake struck at a depth of 34 km (21 miles), 140 km (86 miles) north of the main city of Guwahati.
Reports said that the earthquake occurred as a result of oblique-slip faulting at a shallow depth just at the foothills of the Himalayas.
The earthquake caused moderate but widespread damage to nearby buildings, but no collapses were reported. Among the buildings affected was a multi-story structure in Nagaon which tilted to its side and leaned against an adjacent building.
Cracks also appeared in the walls of homes and commercial buildings. A few vehicles were damaged when bricks fell on them. Landslides and liquefaction of the ground were reported in Assam.
Damage to buildings were also reported in nearby Bhutan, and two individuals were injured. people in the Kamrup Metro and Nagaon districts died of heart attacks caused by the earthquake while 12 others suffered injuries.
