5.2 Magnitude Earthquake Jolts Kashmir Valley

An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted Kashmir Valley on Wednesday. No casualty or damage to any property has so far been reported from anywhere, said officials.

According to MET department officials, the earthquake of 5.2 magnitude jolted Kashmir Valley this morning at around 10.43 am with its epicentre likely in Afghanistan region.

Tremors were felt at multiple places in the Valley. At some places, people rushed out of their homes and work places.

Earthquakes have wrought havoc in the Valley in the past as well as it falls in seismologically vulnerable region.

On October 8, 2005 a devastating earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killed thousands of people, on both sides of the line of control (LoC).

Muzaffarabad town in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) was completed destroyed in 2005 temblor, which was one of the worst earthquakes ever to occur in J&K.

For the last five to six years periodic earthquakes have been hitting the Chenab Valley region of J&K including Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Reasi districts.

At some places in Doda and Kishtwar districts, these periodic tremors have caused cracks in private and government buildings in the area.

There has been a lot of public debate during the last decade for building earthquake resistant structures in the Valley.

The traditional old architecture of mud and wood structures was seismologically much more stable than the present structures of brick and concrete often built on re-enforced concrete cement foundations those have very little scope of negotiating the earth shaking that occurs during the earthquake.

There is also proposal to disallow earthquake prone structures in the Valley those can endanger both human life and property during times of earthquakes.