SRINAGAR: Cries and screams rent the air as people panicked after an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale jolted parts of the Kashmir valley on Tuesday evening.
Most of the people were retiring for the day when there was a massive thud at around 9.40 pm. The temblor jolted the houses sending people into a tizzy.
“This was scary. Hope everyone is safe. EARTHQUAKE,” tweeted Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, deputy commissioner of Srinagar.
Aamir Ali of the disaster management department said it was not recorded on the automatic seismograph, as the magnitude was probably low.
“I am in touch with the National Seismological Centre, New Delhi. It was not recorded on the automatic seismograph, as the magnitude was probably low. They are trying to triangulate it manually to find out the epicenter, in case it was an earthquake. I will update as soon as I receive the update,’ he said.
Later Ali said the earthquake measured 3.6 on the Richter scale with Latitude 34.15N and Longitude 74.70E.
The trembler broke the internet with people taking to social media to figure out whether it was an earthquake or something else. “Was it Airlock or something else,” Shujat Banday, associate professor at Amar Singh College wrote on Facebook.
The scene brought back the memories of the October 2005 quake when thousands of people died and tens of thousands of houses and other structures damaged in the border areas of Uri and Tangdhar sectors of north Kashmir.
Later, on October 27, 2015, a powerful earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale wreaked havoc leaving two elderly women dead. Two army men suffered serious injuries when their bunker wall collapsed in the quake.
