Mild quakes in Rajasthan in next 15 days

Jaipur, Dec 3: Parts of Alwar and surrounding areas in Rajasthan may experience more earthquakes of very mild intensity over the next 15 days, Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India (GSI) Dr R S Goyal said.

An earthquake of magnitude 3.9 on the Richter scale struck Alwar on November 29, while areas around Sambhar lake were hit by a quake of 2.9 magnitude the next day.

The recent earthquakes were due to shifting of tectonic plate in the south-westwards direction, Dr Goyal, said here yesterday.

He said more such mild quakes of magnitudes not more than 4 on the Richter Scale may occur in the next 15 days in and around Alwar but assured there is little likelihood of any major quakes.

Going by the history of earthquakes in the region, Dr Goyal assured Rajasthan is not likely to experience any major shocks in the near future as major portion of the state lies in low damage risk zone-II.

However, he cautioned that parts of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalore and Alwar lie in the high damage risk zone and quakes of magnitude 4-5 on richter scale may occur.

A GSI team, which recently surveyed the quake-hit areas, concluded that moderate earthquakes in the state is not a new phenomenon.

He said the occurrence of two earthquakes within such a short time span points to a single tectonic event though the two locations are wide apart in terms of distance.

He said both the Alwar and Sambhar earthquakes were of moderate depth of 20 km and of the strike-slip solution type since the movement was in the direction of the lineament.

UNI