12 Earthquakes Occurred in Northeast Region in February

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: As many as 12 earthquakes occurred in the Northeast region of India in the month of February 2025. Meghalaya recorded the highest of 4 quakes, followed by Assam with 3 quakes. Significantly, Assam was rocked by a magnitude 5.0 earthquake in the wee hours of February 27, 2025, with the epicentre in Morigaon.

This was revealed in a Report on Real Time Earthquake Location for the month of February 2025, issued by the National Center for Seismology under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

According to the report, the National Center for Seismology maintains a National Seismological Network of 166 stations, each having state-of-the-art equipment and spreading all across the country. Using these stations during the period February 1-28, 2025, a total number of 119 earthquakes have been located and disseminated from the center, out of which 115 earthquakes occurred in India and its neighbourhood region bounded by the coordinates 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E.

During the period mentioned, the majority of earthquakes within India and its neighbourhood region bounded by the coordinates 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E were located in the Hindu Kush region, North India (Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), and North East India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur).

A few earthquakes of smaller magnitudes were also reported in the northern (Rohtak in Haryana, New Delhi and South-East Delhi in NCT Delhi, Modinagar in Uttar Pradesh), western (Bikaner and Barmer in Rajasthan) and eastern (Siwan in Bihar and Cooch Behar in West Bengal) parts of the country. Twelve earthquakes of smaller magnitude (M <3.0) comprising 10% of all earthquakes, occurred during February 2025.

Five earthquakes of magnitude M:5.0 and above occurred during the month in the Andaman Sea, Myanmar, the Bay of Bengal, Morigaon, and Nepal.

Out of a total of 119 earthquakes, 45% and 37% of earthquakes occurred in the magnitude range 3.0-3.9 and 4.0-4.9, respectively, whereas seven earthquakes in the magnitude range 5.0-5.9 occurred during the period, of which two were outside the grid of 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E. One earthquake each with a magnitude of M:6.0 and M:7.5, occurred outside the grid of 0°-40°N & 60°-100°E.

A total of 35 earthquakes occurred within Indian territory, of which 4 earthquakes each occurred in Meghalaya and Ladakh during the period. Out of 35 earthquakes, 14 and 12 earthquakes occurred in the North and Northeast regions, respectively. There was no activity in the central and southern parts of the country and sparse activity reported in the western and eastern parts of the country during the month of February.

According to the report, among the NE states, Assam recorded 3 earthquakes, Meghalaya 4, Arunachal Pradesh 2, Manipur 2 and Sikkim 1 quake.

The report specifically states that Assam was hit by an earthquake of M:5.0, which occurred at 02:25:40 IST on February 27, 2025, in Morigaon of Assam at 26.28° N and 92.24° E with a focal depth of 58 km. The epicentre was 10 km northeast of Guwahati and 68 km southeast of Tezpur. This earthquake was located near the Kopili Fault and was closer to the April 28, 2021, M: 6.4 Sonitpur earthquake. The preliminary fault plane solution derived from moment tensor inversion suggests a strike-slip fault.

The occurrence of earthquakes in the region is attributed mainly to the tectonic sources in the Himalayas, such as the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), Main Central Thrust (MCT), Kopili Fault and Dhubri Fault. Seismologically as well as geologically, it is evidenced that the region has been quite active. The Assam region falls in the high seismic zone V of the seismic zoning map of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The earthquake was widely felt in the NE region, including Bihar.

Also Read: Training on earthquake-resistant construction underway in Nagaon

Also Watch: