Srinagar: A light-intensity earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale occurred in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday although no report of any casualty or damage to property was received from anywhere, authorities said.
Data released by the National Center for Seismology said that an earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale occurred in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday at 8:47 p.m.
The coordinates of the earthquake are Latitude 34.28 degrees north and Longitude 74 degrees east.
It occurred 10 km inside the earth and its epicentre was in the Kupwara area of Jammu and Kashmir.
Seismologically Kashmir Valley is located in a highly sensitive zone and is prone to earthquakes.
Earthquakes have wrought havoc in Kashmir in the past.
On October 8, 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killed more than 80,000 people on two sides of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Muzaffarabad town in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir was razed to rubble by the 2005 earthquake.
A lot of damage was caused in Uri town of Baramulla district as well.
The impact of that earthquake was so serious that people in the entire Valley ran out of their homes as homes and buildings shook.
Aftershocks continued for more than a month after the 2005 earthquake.
It was after that devastating earthquake that people in Kashmir started planning for homes and buildings that could sustain shocks in the future.
During the last five to six years, earthquakes have been occurring with irregular periodicity in the Chenab Valley region of Jammu and Kashmir in the Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban districts.
Although no human casualties have been reported during the Chenab Valley earthquakes so far, still there have been incidents of the earth caving in causing irreparable damage to homes and buildings.
In several cases, cracks have developed in residential buildings and government structures making these unfit for human occupation.
(IANS)
