Moderate quake jolts Mizoram

Aizawl, June 18 (IANS) A moderate earthquake, with a magnitude 5.0 on the Richter scale, shook parts of Mizoram and adjoining Myanmar on Thursday night. There was no report of any damage or casualty yet, officials said.According to an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the tremor hit eastern Mizoram's Champhai area, adjoining Myanmar, at 7.29 pm.The quake, which lasted a few seconds, was at 80 km depth. Seismologists consider India's mountainous northeast region as the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world.The northeast has seen some of the biggest quakes in history. In 1897, a Shillong-epicentred quake measured 8.2 on the Richter scale, while in 1950, an earthquake in Assam measuring 8.7 on the Richter Scale forced the Brahmaputra river to change its course.
--IANS sc/vd