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A light (M4.0-4.9 termed as
"light")
earthquake struck southern
Jammu & Kashmir and adjoining parts of Himachal Pradesh, on
20 May 2009
at 00:59
AM local time. It had a magnitude of
Mb=4.9
and damage in parts of the region.
The earthquake was centred 2 kms W of
Kanini (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
8.6 kms NE of Khandkot (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
13.1 kms SSE of Kishtwar (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
24 kms ENE of Doda (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
26.6 kms NE of Bhadarwah (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
41 kms S of Haraz (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
63.8 kms NE of Ramnagar (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
78 kms NW of Chamba (Himachal Pradesh), India,
83.4 kms SE of Anantnag (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
105 kms NE of Jammu (Jammu & Kashmir), India,
136 kms SE of Srinagar
(Jammu & Kashmir), India.
Strong tremors were
felt for 10-seconds in the districts of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Rajouri in Jammu & Kashmir where
people ran into the open and spent the night outdoors. There was
considerable panic at Doda and Kishtwar. Many people
only returned to their houses in the morning at Bhadarwah and Doda
as aftershocks were felt thrice throughout the night including one
at ~1:30 AM IST (~20:00 UTC). Light tremors were also felt at
Jammu & Udhampur. At least 100 houses developed cracks and
a few kutcha houses collapsed at Bonjwan, Chatroo, Dool, Drabshala,
Paddar, Salana, Sarthal,
Saroor and Titani in the Kishtwar region as a result of this earthquake.
Damage was greatest in the Paddar and Kishtwar tehsils including
at Bonjwan and Sarthal. At Sarthal alone, 25 houses were damaged. A
guest house at the Sarthal Devi shrine and a mosque at Drabshala
developed cracks. A room in a school at Drabshala was also
damaged. Damage is also believed to have been sustained by school and
government buildings. No injuries were reported as a
result of this earthquake from any districts in Jammu &
Kashmir. Likewise, with the exception of
Kishtwar district, no damage was reported
from any district in the state.
This is the strongest earthquake in southern Jammu &
Kashmir since a Mb=4.9 earthquake on 19 December 2002. Earlier, on
28 January 2002, a
Mw=5.3 earthquake occurred near Kithar,
also in southern Jammu & Kashmir that was felt as far as Lahore in
Pakistan. |
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References
01)
National
Earthquake Information Centre (NEIC), Golden, USA.
02)
Geophysical Survey of
the Russian Academy of Sciences (GSR),
Obninsk, Russia.
03)
Macroseismic information has been compiled by
the ASC from reports by local media and local NGO personnel.
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this should not be misinterpreted as an endorsement
of these boundaries by the Amateur Seismic Centre (ASC). |
