A powerful earthquake struck the Hindu Kush region on Friday night and rattled several parts of North India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi-NCR and Punjab. The earthquake struck at 9:45 p.m. IST on April 3, 2026 and was located about 150 km away from the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border at a depth of 150 km.
The jolts were so strong that residents hundreds of km away were scared to death. A heavy earthquake struck in Srinagar and in the Kashmir Valley and the shaking was felt for several seconds and people rushed out of their homes despite the late hour.
Residents in Delhi, Noida and Gurugram reported ceiling fans shaking and furniture shaking in high-rise apartments as well. "We didn't wait we took the stairs and ran out immediately," said a resident in Noida. In Chandigarh and parts of Punjab like Ludhiana and Amritsar, people also reported feeling a sudden jolt followed by a few seconds of vibration.
National Centre for Seismology (NCS) coordinates of the earthquake were:
- Magnitude: 5.9
- Depth: 150 km
- Latitude: 36.4° N
- Longitude: 70.9° E
- Epicenter: Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border Region.
No immediate casualties
No casualties or significant structural damage have been reported in any part of India so far.
Jammu and Kashmir government and the emergency services in the national capital are on alert for the possibility of aftershocks. There are still some areas of the region where Delhi is under Seismic Zone IV and Jammu and Kashmir under Zone IV and V, and the latter is particularly prone to tectonic activity from the Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges.
