SHILLONG, April 28: An earthquake associated with six aftershocks and measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale rattled North East on early Wednesday morning .
“It occurred in Sonitpur, Assam with epicentre at 26.690 N and 92.360 E, focal depth of 17 Km at 07:51:25 IST,” informed Director, Central Seismological Observatory, NCS, Shillong, AC Lyngdoh on Wednesday.
He informed that the earthquake is felt in entire North East region of India and some parts of Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh.
“More than 70 felt reports due to this earthquake, have been received
having intensity ranging from I to V on Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) Scale,” he added.
He also informed that a total of 6 aftershocks of magnitude range of M: 3.2 to M:4.7 are located within 2hours 30 minutes from the time of occurrence of Main shock of M:6.4, signifying the release of the stress in the vicinity of todays source zone in and around Sonitpur, Assam.
Damages to buildings also reported within 100 km from epicentre in areas of
Sonitpur, Nagaon, Guwahati as received from Central Seismological Observatory, NCS, Shillong.
According to, report issued by National Centre for Seismology (Ministry of Earth Sciences), New Delhi the epicentre is closer to the plate boundary and located at about 80 Km NE of Guwahati; 132 Km N of Shillong and 180 Km W of Jorhat.
As per preliminary analysis the events are located near to Kopili Fault closer to Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT). The area is seismically very active falling in the highest Seismic Hazard Zone V associated with collisional tectonics where Indian plate subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate.
The report also stated that historical and instrumentally recorded earthquake data (NCS catalogue) reveals that the region is affected by moderate to large earthquakes and the most prominent events among those are the 29thJuly1960 Assam earthquake of M 6.0
Expected intensity of today’s (28th Apr 2021 at 07:51:25 IST ) earthquake is assimilated by NCS ,