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Friday's quake biggest in the last 50 years

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

The earthquake that rocked India on Friday morning is the biggest one to hit the country in the last 50 years, according to a leading seismologist.

"It is the biggest earthquake after the one hit Assam way back in 1950," says Dr Harsh K Gupta, director, National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad. Incidentally, the Assam earthquake, measuring 8.6 on the Richter Scale, occurred on Independence Day in 1950.

Speaking to this correspondent, the NGRI director said Friday's quake measured 7.9 on the Richter Scale and its epicentre was in the Rann of Kutch. "This area witnessed a severe earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale almost 182 years ago, on June 16, 1819," he pointed out.

According to Harsh Gupta, the Kutch area did not witness much of seismic activity for a long time thereafter. However, in the last one year or so, some seismic activity was noticed in the Kutch area since it is a continuation of the Narmada-Sone lineament. An earthquake with magnitude of 6 on the Richter Scale occurred in the Jabalpur area of Madhya Pradesh on May 21, 1997.

The NGRI director, however, discounted reports that the impact of the Gujarat earthquake was felt in parts of Andhra Pradesh. "It (Andhra Pradesh) is more than 1,000 km away from the epicentre of Friday's earthquake. No, I don't think that any tremors have been felt in this state," he asserted.

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