Aftershock in Junagadh region after Thursday's quake

The Junagadh region of Gujarat, which experienced an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale on Thursday night, on Friday experienced an aftershock.

At around 8.45 am on Friday, an aftershock measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale was felt in and around Junagadh district, the MeT office said here.

Twelve people were injured and 50 mud houses were damaged in Thursday night's quake, officials said. The epicentre of the quake, which occurred at around 10.48 pm on Thursday night, was 20 km south east of Sasan Gir near Vansthli town in Junagadh district. The tremors were felt in Ahmedabad, South Gujarat and even Mumbai.

The state government sent rescue and medical teams to the villages in the Sasan Gir area on Friday, from where reports of house collapses had come, an official of Relief Commissioner's office said.

"We are assessing the damage which is mainly in some 10 villages along the periphery of the Gir forest," Junagadh District Collector, A M Parmar, said, adding some of the houses in Ladoli, Jalandhar, Khorsa, Dharampur and other villages have totally collapsed.

"Those who were injured in the house collapse have been taken to hospital and all of them are out of danger."

Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Ladoli and Jalandhar villages on Friday, Parmar said.

The Gujarat government has ordered a survey of the damage. In 2007, a quake measuring five on the Richter scale had rocked the district.

There is no major fault-line in the area, but the quakes are happening due to small faults in this part of the Saurashtra peninsula. This is different from the Kutch fault-line," a scientist at the Institute of Seismological Research said.

"It has been seen that earthquakes of around five magnitude are common in the area. These are moderate quakes and will not cause much damage."