Parts of north India including Delhi, Punjab and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir felt strong tremors on Friday night after a high-intensity earthquake hit Tajikistan. The seismology department first said that the epicentre of the earthquake was in Amritsar in Punjab, describing its depth at 19 km. This prompted Punjab Chief Minister to issue a statement saying that all was well in Amritsar.
However, the seismology department soon revised its statement and said that the quake was in Tajikistan, blaming a software glitch to its earlier reading. The National Centre for Seismology described the magnitude of the quake to be 6.3 on the Richter Scale.
Punjab CM Singh took to Twitter to write, “No reports of any damage so far in Amritsar or other parts of Punjab following the #earthquake. Top officials of @PunjabPoliceInd & local administration are keeping a close watch on the situation. Praying for everyone’s safety.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was interacting with the students of University of Chicago, stopped midway to say that his room was shaking. He said, “By the way, I think an earthquake is going on. My room is shaking.”
Even @RahulGandhi felt the shaking while interacting in a webinar!#earthquake #भूकंप pic.twitter.com/04fEfHhbrW
— Ansh Chowdhari انش چوودھری #JusticeforJammu (@chowdhariansh) February 12, 2021
Users in Kashmir, Delhi and Punjab took to social media to share their experiences. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Not since the earthquake of 2005 have the tremors in Srinagar been bad enough to force me out of the house. I grabbed a blanket & ran. I didn’t remember to take my phone & so was unable to tweet ‘earthquake’ while the damn ground was shaking.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Earthquake tremors felt in Delhi. Praying for everyone’s safety.”