3.3 magnitude earthquake jolts Nagpur district
   Date :28-Oct-2020

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Staff Reporter :
 
Mild tremors were recorded in villages of Nagpur district on Tuesday morning after a 3.3 magnitude earthquake jolted the region. However, there were no immediate reports of any casualty or damage recorded by district administration. The tremors were felt around 4.10 am. According to National Centre for Seismology (NCS), the epicentre of the earthquake was 20-25 kms from Seoni of Madhya Pradesh and 96 kms of North-Northeast Nagpur.
 

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The earthquake occurred at the depth of 15 kms. A study of active faults conducted by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) few years ago in which it stated, though Nagpur has not recorded any seismic activity of magnitude above 4 on Richter scale since 1938 and falls under safest earthquake zone area, the possibilities of a low to moderate earthquake cannot be ruled out completely. The study was conducted by GSI between 2002 to 2012. After eight years of the study, the prediction at some extent have come true as three earthquakes were observed in 2020 near Nagpur city. The first tremors of 2.6 magnitude were felt on April 23 in Wardha which is 71 kms from Nagpur.
 
The second earthquake of magnitude 3.3 on Richter scale occurred 129 km South of Akola. However, there were no casualties and damage of property were recorded on both incidents. “The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. It also measure the mild tremors creates through stone crushers and blasting in mines.
 
The tremors that observed in Seoni on Tuesday is likely due to the same reason,” said a senior GSI official to The Hitavada. “All three events that observed in Akola, Wardha and now in Seoni were different. The previous were occurred on minor faults but today’s event was happened on the Gawilgarh fault which is the border of Zone II and Zone III category,” said Dr Sandeep Shirkhedkar, Earthquake Engineering Consultant. Dr Shirkhedkar further said that it was a minor shock but proper study require to record the history of earthquake in the region.