Epicentre of the quake was located in the Sudurpaschim province in the far west of Nepal, on the border with India
A map by the US Geological Survey showing the epicentre of the earthquake in Nepal
Powerful tremors rocked Delhi, the National Capital Region and large parts of north India after an earthquake struck southwestern Nepal on the intervening night of November 8 and 9, 2022.
There were different descriptions regarding the magnitude, epicentre and depth of the earthquake. The temblor measured 5.6 in magnitude and happened at a depth of 15.7 kilometres, 21 km east of Dipayal in Nepal at 1.57 am, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The National Center for Seismology (NCS), New Delhi, tweeted that an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 had occurred November 9, 2022 at 01:57:24 IST, at a depth of 10 km in Nepal. According to Google, the epicentre of the quake was Kalukheti in Nepal.
Both the USGS and the NCS provided similar coordinates for latitude and longitude: 29.297°N 81.161°E. The NCS had tweeted five hours before that an earthquake of magnitude 4.9 had occurred November 8, 2022 at 20:52:42 IST at a depth of 10 km in Nepal.
Both, Dipayal and Kalukheti, are located in the Sudurpaschim province in the far west of Nepal, on the border with India.
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“Seismicity in the Himalaya dominantly results from the continental collision of the India and Eurasia plates, which are converging at a relative rate of 40-50 millimetres per year. Northward underthrusting of India beneath Eurasia generates numerous earthquakes and consequently makes this area one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth,” according to the USGS.
The Himalayas and their vicinity have witnessed some of the most lethal earthquakes such as one of magnitude 8.1 Bihar in 1934, the 1905 magnitude 7.5 quake in Kangra and the 2005 magnitude 7.6 quake in Kashmir, according to the USGS.
“The latter two resulted in the highest death tolls for Himalaya earthquakes seen to date, together killing over 100,000 people and leaving millions homeless. The largest instrumentally recorded Himalaya earthquake occurred on 15th August 1950 in Assam, eastern India,” the US government body noted on its website.
The Gorkha earthquake in central Nepal that occurred April 25, 2015 killed almost 9,000 people.
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