7th quake within 24 hours strikes Karachi as Landhi's fault line is active
Expert says Landhi's fault line has become active after energy accumulated in it: It will take week's time to die down
A number of low-intensity earthquakes shattered routine life of Karachi from Sunday evening to Monday morning, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Though the magnitude of all the six earthquakes ranged between 2.2 and 3.2 on Richter schale, different parts of the megacity were jolted since Sunday evening.
Quakes in quick succession have instilled fear in the hearts of the residents of district Malir, Landhi, Shah Latif Colony, Bhains Colony, Sherpao Colony and Quaidabad who came out of their homes each time an earthquake struck.
The latest back-to-back earthquakes were of magnitude 3.2 on Richter scale and their depth was only 10 kilometers beneath the ground and epicentre was near Quaidabad and Malir.
The latest of the series of quakes, the seventh one, hit the port city at 1:11 pm, impacting the same areas. It's intensity on Richter scale was 2.4, depth was 188kms and its epicentre was Malir.
About an hour earlier, the sixth time the Karachiites experienced the tremor was at 12:17 pm.
The fifth earthquake jolted the city at 11:04 in the morning on Monday.
The first time the city was shaken by a quake was at 5:00 PM on Sunday afternoon; second time it was late at night at 1:15 AM followed by another one at 2:00 AM.
Fourth time, the quake struck at 10:29 AM in the morning on Monday.
Landhi’s fault line is active, says expert
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Amir Haider Leghari giving reasons for a string of earthquakes hitting many areas of Karachi said that Landhi’s fault time, which is there for over a hundred year, is active since yesterday.
“Energy is accumulated in the fault line which is releasing slowly, which may take a week or more,” he elaborated.
Leghari said the intensity of the earthquakes will gradually die down as the fault line energy is released.
Reporters Osama Malik and Rimsha Ismail