New Delhi, Oct 3 (EFE).- India’s National Center for Seismology on Tuesday registered five successive earthquakes of magnitudes between 2.7 and 6.2 with epicenters in India and Nepal, although no material damage or casualties have been reported.
The third and strongest tremor (6.2) took place at 2.51 pm local time (9.21 GMT) at a depth of five kilometers with its epicenter in western Nepal, according to the NCS.
Another 4.6-magnitude tremor had been recorded half an hour earlier in the same area, while two other minor earthquakes of 4.3 and 3.0 magnitudes respectively were detected in the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Assam.
The agency also registered another 4.7-magnitude tremor at 4.29 pm local time at a depth of 10 kilometers in the city of Fayzabad in western Afghanistan.
However, the United States Geological Service only reported two of these tremors from the region, with magnitudes listed as 4.9 and 5.7, which were shown to have hit in quick succession at epicenters situated close to Dipayal Silgadhi in western Nepal.
The tremors were felt in cities such as New Delhi and Kathmandu, and minor damage was reported to houses in some Nepali cities. No casualties have been reported by the authorities so far.
Nepal and Afghanistan are among the most disaster-prone countries.
A significant part of their populations live in houses highly-vulnerable to earthquakes, though some resistant structures exist.
According to the Asian Preparedness Partnership (APP), an alliance to coordinate emergency response in Asia, eight out of 10 people in Nepal are vulnerable to earthquakes, droughts, floods, landslides, extreme temperatures, and glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
On Apr.25, 2015, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Nepal that toppled multi-story buildings in the capital Kathmandu and triggered landslides and avalanches in the mountains.
Nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 suffered injuries.
The Himalayan nation is still rebuilding after the devastating earthquakes that razed towns and villages, causing damage worth billions of dollars.
Afghanistan also witnessed one of its biggest natural tragedies in 1998 when twin earthquakes with magnitudes 5.9 and 6 killed around 4,000 people in February. Months later in May, a bigger 7-magnitude earthquake struck the same area and caused around 5,000 deaths. EFE
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