Not long after the Joshimath cracks have raised safety concerns over development in the earthquake-prone belt, three consecutive tremors have been felt in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand within 12 hours between Saturday and Sunday and Monday, according to the Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Sinha.
Siror forest of Bhatwari block felt the first tremor at 12.45 am in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday whose magnitude was recorded at 2.5 on the Ritcher Scale. Soon the second low-intensity tremor followed in the same area and the third tremor of intensity 1.8 on the Ritcher Scale was felt at around 10.10 am.
This occurred a few days following a 2.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district on Thursday, another seismic event has taken place. Additionally, in December 2022, Uttarkashi experienced a 3.1 magnitude earthquake.
While the entire region of Uttarkashi falls under India's seismic zone 'V Zone' that is also known as the maximum risk zone - the northern region of Uttarkashi has been described as the epicenter of the earthquake. With the recent three quakes hitting this region, a total of 12 earthquake tremors have been felt in Uttarakhand in the last two months.
So far, there have been no reports indicating any casualties or damage to any property. After the initial jolt, three additional tremors were felt within a span of five to 10 minutes, causing panic among the locals who were awakened by the earthquakes and rushed out to the streets.
Uttarkashi is located around 290 kilometres away from Joshimath, the holy town which has been slowly sinking.
In January this year, Dr. Bahadur Singh Kotlia, Professor of Geology at Kumaun University had warned that the sinking of Joshimath will not be a solitary event and similar such occurrences might soon follow in parts of Nainital, Uttarkashi and Champawat, which are highly prone to seismic activity as it is the geological fault where the Indian Plate has pushed under the Eurasian Plate along the Himalayas.
Not only that but anthropogenic activities like construction is accelerating the process. Hence it is inevitable to take precautionary measures to prevent the sinking of these regions as one cannot fight geology and win against nature.
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