Kolkata woke up to tremors of a massive earthquake measuring magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale that jolted the India-Myanmar border region early on Friday. It was officially reported by the National Center for Seismology.
People, who felt the effects of the earthquake in parts of India, including Kolkata, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Assam besides Bangladesh, took to Twitter to report the tremor.
The epicentre of the earthquake lay 183km east of Chittagong in Bangladesh. According to the National Center for Seismology, the quake occured at 5.15am, at a depth of 35km.
There were also reports of a second earthquake at 5.53am.
The northeastern region of the country sits on a high seismic zone, making earthquakes frequent in the area.
An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude had shaken Assam and parts of the region on April 28 earlier this year.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), a strong and shallow earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck the Myanmar-India border region around 5.15am on Friday.
The alert by the independent organisation and provider of real-time earthquake information confirmed the quake and the tremors in West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.
Later, the EMSC pegged the earthquake magnitude at 5.8, after having earlier given it a magnitude of 6.0, and said the epicentre was about 126km southeast of Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram.
According to the National Center for Seismology, the quake with a magnitude of 6.1 occurred at 5:15am. The central nodal agency, which monitors earthquake activity in the country, also said its epicentre was at a depth of 12km and 73km southeast of Thenzawl in Mizoram.
Did you feel the early morning jolts in Kolkata? Let us know at https://www.facebook.com/tt.my.kolkata or https://twitter.com/TT_My_Kolkata
Is it an #earthquake or something else? I felt like something's shaking me while I am on my laptop sitting on my bed at 5:17 AM in the morning
— Jayaditya (@jayadityaproto) November 25, 2021
Later, news agency AP quoted the US Geological Survey as saying the earthquake occurred at a depth of 32.8 km (20.4 miles) near Hakha city, the capital of Chin state northwest Myanmar, sending tremors that spread across the border to towns and cities in India and Bangladesh.
The agency said recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides that might have contributed to losses, but predicted the current quake exposed little or no population and areas to such risk.