West Bengal's Murshidabad district has barely caught a break from nature this week. Days of heavy to very heavy rainfall had already triggered landslides in several pockets of the district, one of which cut off the New Farakka rail route until repair crews managed to restore it after a tough effort. Just as things seemed to be settling down, the ground itself began shaking late on Saturday night, an earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale sent panic through the district.
Quake hit at 10:24 pm, epicentre just 10 km deep
The National Center for Seismology (NCS) confirmed that the tremor struck Murshidabad at exactly 10:24 pm. Its magnitude was recorded at 3.7 on the Richter scale, a reading in the mild-to-moderate range that is usually felt but rarely destructive. What made it noticeable was the shallow depth of the epicentre, only about 10 kilometres below the surface, which the NCS placed within Murshidabad district itself. Despite the sudden jolt, no injuries or property damage have been reported so far.
Tremors between Dhuliyan and Farakka sent people running outdoors
Locals said the shaking was felt most sharply in the stretch between Dhuliyan and Farakka, two areas already worn down by weeks of rain and landslides. The late-night timing caught most residents off guard, waking many from sleep and pushing them out onto the streets until they were sure their homes were safe. For a population still recovering from the earlier landslides and the disruption to rail services, the earthquake added a fresh jolt of anxiety even though its intensity stayed on the lower side. Neither the district administration nor the NCS has confirmed any casualties or damage linked to the quake.
Why the Bengal basin keeps recording such tremors
Seismologists point out that West Bengal and its surrounding Bengal basin have long sat in a zone with a history of seismic activity. Several major earthquakes over the decades have sent tremors as far as this basin, and experts say the region remains under the influence of multiple active fault lines. That, they explain, is why the occasional small or moderate earthquake here should not be read as something out of the ordinary, even if it arrives at an already difficult time for a district still dealing with the aftermath of landslides and heavy rain.
