4.3-magnitude earthquakes hit northeast India

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake hit the India-Bangladesh border region along Meghalaya on Wednesday, and shook few other parts of northeast India. There was no report of major damage, officials said.

Agartala/Shillong, Oct 19: A 4.3-magnitude earthquake hit the India-Bangladesh border region along Meghalaya on Wednesday, and shook few other parts of northeast India. There was no report of major damage, officials said.

"The 4.3-magnitude quake hit few states of the northeastern region of India at 12.50 p.m. on Wednesday noon," a meteorological department official said in Agartala.

"There is no report of major damage in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Assam, Tripura and adjoining areas of the northeast yet," an official of disaster management control centre in Agartala said, citing reports from District Magistrates across the region.

A quake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale, hit some areas of Mizoram on Tuesday at 3.01 p.m.

The depths of the two tremors were measured at 40 and 147 km respectively.

Seismologists consider India's mountainous northeast region as the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world.

The northeast has seen some of the biggest quakes in history. In 1897, a Shillong-epicentred quake measured 8.2 on the Richter scale, while in 1950, an earthquake in Assam measuring 8.7 on the Richter Scale forced the mighty Brahmaputra river to change its course.

In September 2011, Sikkim suffered heavy damage after a quake hit the Himalayan state.

IANS