5.3-magnitude earthquake hits Chamba in HP

Tremors were felt in parts of north India as a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.

The earthquake struck at 9.34 pm, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said. Mild tremors were also felt in Chandigarh and parts of Punjab and Haryana. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km in Chamba district, officials of the meteorological department in Shimla said. No loss of life or property has been reported from any part of Himachal Pradesh in earthquake that lasted a few seconds, officials said. ''I felt a strong jolt lasting a couple of seconds. Just when I was thinking of rushing downstairs, the tremors stopped,'' said Sanjay Kumar, a Chandigarh resident. An 8-magnitude earthquake on this day in 1905 in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra had led to large-scale death and destruction.

According to NCS records, more than 20,000 people had died in the disaster in the Western Himalayas.

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