Seismic activities on the rise
SHILLONG: As many as 16 tremors have been felt in Meghalaya out of the total number of 44 earthquakes measuring over 5 on the Richer scale occurred all over the world this year alone.
An official of the Upper Shillong Seismological Observatory said on Friday that from January to April till date, there were 16 tremors felt in Shillong and other parts of the state.
The official added that since Northeast falls under seismic zone 5, the seismic activities are bound to occur frequently.
Zone 5 is the highest risk area that suffers earthquakes of various intensities.
Among this year’s moderate earthquakes, the city residents still remember the tremor having 6.7 on the Richter scale that shook the city and other parts of the Northeast on January 4 at around 4.35 am. The epi-centre was at Tamenglong in Manipur.
Though another moderate earthquake of April 13 measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook parts of the city and other areas of the state at around 7.25 pm, there was no large scale devastation as the epicenter was in Myanmar border.
Earlier on April 5, another moderate intensity earthquake with 5.4 on the Richter scale shook Shillong and adjoining areas at 1.12 pm with its epicenter in East Garo Hills. On March 10 too there were two medium-intensity earthquakes (3 and 3.2 on the Richter scales) within a span of less than four minutes, both having epicenters in and around Shillong.
In 2015, there were only 19 tremors felt in Meghalaya, while there were already 16 felt in less than four months this year. However in 2014, there were as many as 27 tremors felt all over the state.
Tremors felt in 2016
January: 3
February: 3
March: 6
Till April 15: 4
Total: 16