Earthquake today: 6.1 magnitude quake jolts Nepal's Kathmandu, 4 injured; tremors felt in Bihar

Earthquake today: A strong earthquake of 6.1 magnitude was felt near Nepal's Kathmandu early morning on February 28 and four people have been reportedly injured, according to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre. The quake measuring was recorded at 2.51 am on Friday. 

The National Center for Seismology reported the earthquake's magnitude as 5.5, with a depth of 10 km.

Several post and videos were shared on social media which stated that tremors were felt in Bihar's Patna, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and other areas. According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre, the quake was recorded along Kodari Highway in Sindhupalchowk district, 65 km East of Kathmandu at 2.51 am.

It struck around Bhairab Kunda in the Sindhupalchok District in Nepal, close to the Himalayan mountain range that runs along the border with Tibet. Currrently, there are no immediate report of any damage or casualty from the earthquake.

DIG of Nepal Police Dinesh Kumar Acharya who spoke to news agency ANI said, “There have been no reports of deaths or injuries due to the earthquake of morning. In the epicentre as well, there are no reports of major damages to infrastructures.”

‘It shook us’

Ganesh Nepali, a senior official of Sindhupalchok district, told Reuters, “It shook us from our sleep strongly. We rushed out of our home. People have now returned home. We have not received any report of damage or injuries so far” 

Pasang Nurpu Sherpa, chairman of the Bhote Koshi rural municipality, where the epicentre is located, told Reuters, “I have no information of any damage so far. The earthquake has triggered a landslide at Dugunagadi Bhir across the river. There are no houses around the site of the landslide.”

‘We were scared’

While speaking to news agency ANI, Suhani Yadav, a local said, "We were asleep when we suddenly felt the tremors. We were scared and rushed out of the house..."

Another local from Samastipur, Virendra Kumar said, “We were in deep sleep when we felt the bed shaking. All of us woke up and rushed outside...We stayed out for half an hour...”

Rambabu Chaudhary, a local resident in Muzaffarpur added, "I was asleep when I felt the bed shaking, the fan was shaking too. We were scared and immediately rushed out of the house..."

Earthquake in Nepal: Social Media Users Share Videos of the Tremor

One user shared videos which mentioned that the tremors were also felt in Bhutan and Bangaldesh.

Nepal lies in one of the most active tectonic zones (Seismic zones IV and V), making the country extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. The worst quake the Himalayan nation has so far witnessed was in 2015 during which a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 9,000 people and damaged over 1 million structures.

Earthquake in Kolkata and Delhi

On February 25, an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 on the Richter scale had struck the Bay of Bengal where the tremors were felt in Kolkata, parts of West Bengal and Odisha. Earlier, Delhi felt earthquake tremors early morning on February 17 when a quake of magnitude 4.0 on the Richter scale hit the national capital. Although earthquake near Kolkata was recorded to be of higher intensity than Delhi's earthquake, people in the national capital felt stronger tremors.

(With inputs from Reuters)