Tremors were felt in the Indian capital and large parts of north India, including Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla and Chandigarh, following a 5.8 magnitude quake centred near the Jammu and Kashmir-Himachal Pradesh border on Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
'The quake happened at 12.27 p.m. and measured 5.8 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was near Kishtwar town at the Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh border region,' R.S. Dattatreya, director, Department of Seismology, India Meteorological Department (IMD), said.

'It is a moderate tremor in Delhi and other northern regions. We ask public not to panic,' he said.

'The quake was 10 km beneath the earth's surface. The possibility of aftershocks are very minimal for such a low intensity quake,' said L.S. Rathore, IMD's director general (meteorology).

In Jammu, an official of the Met department said: 'The maximum impact of the quake was felt in Doda and Kishtwar districts.'

The tremors, felt across large parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Punjab,, lasted six to seven seconds. It caused panic in some places, particularly in hilly areas, some of which reported cracks in homes and buildings.

Reports of cracks in office and residential buildings and disruption of communication systems were reported from Bhaderwah, Doda and Kishtwar towns of Jammu region. Deta.