Saturday, October 8 2005 12:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A massive earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale rocked North India, Pakistan and Afghanistan today (Oct 8, 2005) forcing people to rush out of their residences.

The quake which was recorded at 9.20 AM was felt in Delhi and adjoining areas in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

The meteorological department had initially put the intensity at 6.8 but later upgraded it to 7.4.

The epicenter of the quake was in west Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the met office said.

Reports coming into the disaster control room said there was no damage in Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu region.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the first tremor was felt at around 0920 hours while the second was reported 15 minutes later.

The telephone services in the state have been disrupted in many places, sources said.

Tremors were felt across Rajasthan intermittently in the period of 15 minutes, according to sources at seismological center at Ajmer.

A house in Madangir in south Delhi suffered damage due to the quake.

A minor tremor was also felt in western part of Ahmedabad, residents said.

People staying in multi-storied towers in Satelite and Bodakdev area in the western part of city ran out of their buildings, they said.