Srinagar, Jan 5: People in restive Kashmir panicked for the second night in succession after an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale jolted the summer capital and other parts of Kashmir in the wee hours on Monday.
The tremors, which were felt at around 4:43 am, lasted for a few seconds, caused panic among the people, who came out of their homes despite the chilling cold. People spent some time in open space before returning to their homes.
A Metrological department official said the earthquake was epicentered at 36.60 degrees north latitude and 71.0 degrees east longitude in the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan. However, no loss of life or injuries were reported in the earthquake. The entire region in the restive Kashmir falls in earthquake prone-Zone 5.
Earlier, during the night intervening Saturday/Sunday and earthquake of 6.4 magnitude had struck Kashmir, causing panic among the people. The earthquakes have reminded the people of the October 2005 7.8 tremblor which caused large scale devasation. Thousands of people were killed and thousands others were rendered homeless.
