Delhi: A moderate intensity earthquake measuring 5.8 on Richter Scale on Monday hit Uttarakhand, tremors of which were felt in Delhi and other parts of northern India.


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The epicentre of the quake was Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand, said J L Gautam, Operations head at the National Seismological Bureau, a unit of Ministry of Earth Sciences.


"The depth of the quake was 33 km and it occurred at 10.33 PM," he said, as per PTI.


Uttarakhand, which falls in the Himalayan belt, is known for high seismic activities.


Tremors were felt across Punjab, Haryana and their common capital Chandigarh also after which many people rushed out of their homes.


There were no immediate reports of any loss of life or damage to property.


Following is what an earthquake is:


- An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves.


- The seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time.


- Earthquakes are measured using measurements from seismometers.


- The more numerous earthquakes smaller than magnitude 5 reported by national seismological observatories are measured mostly on the local magnitude scale, also referred to as the Richter magnitude scale.


- These two scales are numerically similar over their range of validity.


- Magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes are mostly imperceptible or weak and magnitude 7 and over potentially cause serious damage over larger areas, depending on their depth.


- Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.


- The shallower an earthquake, the more damage to structures it causes, all else being equal.


- At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground.


- When the epicenter of a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to cause a tsunami.


- Earthquakes can also trigger landslides, and occasionally volcanic activity.


- In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event that generates seismic waves.


- Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests.


- An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter.


- The epicenter is the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.


(Content courtesy - en.wikipedia.org)