An earthquake in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand shook buildings across Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad at 10:23 on Tuesday night, 6 October. The National Center for Seismology measured it at magnitude 4.9, at a depth of 13 km. There were no reports of casualties or major damage in the first hours afterwards, Business Today reported.
The epicentre was around 280 km from central Delhi. In the US Geological Survey’s catalogue, it is the strongest earthquake within 400 km of Delhi since at least the start of 2025.
4.9 or 5.1? Two agencies, one earthquake
Two seismic networks recorded the quake within seconds of each other, and their numbers differ slightly. That is normal: each uses its own stations and methods, and early estimates are often revised.
| National Center for Seismology | US Geological Survey | |
|---|---|---|
| Time (IST) | 22:23:13 | 22:23:11 |
| Magnitude | 4.9 | 5.1 (body-wave, mb) |
| Depth | 13 km | 10 km |
| Location given | Chamoli, Uttarakhand | 34 km north-north-west of Bageshwar |
| Coordinates | 30.103 N, 79.561 E | 30.117 N, 79.615 E |
| Distance to central Delhi | 282 km | 287 km |
Sources: NCS bulletin as published on 6 October 2026; USGS event us6000u0hz. Distances are our calculation from each agency's coordinates to central Delhi; the two epicentre estimates are about 5 km apart.
For India, the NCS figure is the official one. The difference between 4.9 and 5.1 is within what you’d expect between networks and doesn’t change anything practical. A shallow quake of this size spreads its shaking widely, which is why it reached the plains. The USGS estimates the strongest shaking near the epicentre at intensity V, “moderate”, on the Modified Mercalli scale, and had not issued a damage alert.
The strongest near Delhi since at least January 2025
Delhi gets shaken often enough that each event feels routine, but most are small. Searching the USGS catalogue for every quake of magnitude 4 or more within 400 km of the city since the start of 2025 gives ten events. Tuesday’s was the largest.
| Date (IST) | Magnitude | Near | Distance from Delhi |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Feb 2025 | 4.2 | Nangloi Jat, Delhi | 11 km |
| 23 May 2025 | 4.6 | Dadeldhura, Nepal | 331 km |
| 10 Jul 2025 | 4.5 | Jhajjar, Haryana | 51 km |
| 11 Jul 2025 | 4.1 | Kharkhauda, Haryana | 52 km |
| 14 Oct 2025 | 4.4 | Rajgarh, Himachal Pradesh | 256 km |
| 30 Nov 2025 | 4.3 | Pipalkoti, Uttarakhand | 284 km |
| 7 Dec 2025 | 4.5 | Darchula, Nepal | 390 km |
| 10 Aug 2026 | 4.3 | Barkot, Uttarakhand | 273 km |
| 26 Aug 2026 | 4.1 | Sarahan, Himachal Pradesh | 321 km |
| 6 Oct 2026 | 5.1 | Chamoli / Bageshwar, Uttarakhand | 287 km |
Source: USGS earthquake catalogue, search radius 400 km from central Delhi, magnitude 4.0 and above, 1 January 2025 to 7 October 2026. Magnitudes are USGS body-wave (mb) values, which can differ from NCS figures; NCS put the February 2025 Delhi quake at 4.0, for example. Distances are our calculation.
The pattern is visible even in a short list. The quakes closest to Delhi, in February and July 2025, were small but felt widely because they were near: the February one drew 1,059 “Did You Feel It?” reports to the USGS, against 37 for Tuesday’s quake on the night it happened. The larger ones come from the Himalayan belt to the north and north-east, 250 to 400 km away. Tuesday’s fits the second group, and it is the first of magnitude 5 or more in the window.
Two numbers going around that are wrong
Business Today’s report gave the time as “approximately 10:13 PM” while quoting the NCS bulletin that says 22:23:13. The NCS time is the one to use. And several videos posted on Tuesday night described a “magnitude 5.9” earthquake shaking Delhi. Neither the NCS nor the USGS reported anything close to that.
Which seismic zone is Delhi in? The answer changed twice
Under the national earthquake design code of 2016, Delhi sits in Zone IV, the second-highest hazard category at the time. In November 2025 the Bureau of Indian Standards published a revised code, IS 1893:2025, with a new top category, Zone VI, covering the whole Himalayan arc.
That revision didn’t last. The BIS withdrew it by a gazette notification on 3 March 2026 and returned to the 2016 standard, the Economic Times reported, after concerns that it would raise construction costs. The seismologist C P Rajendran criticised the reversal in ETV Bharat. Many explainers online still describe Zone VI as current; it isn’t.
What to watch
Aftershocks are common after a quake of this size and usually smaller. The NCS posts every event it records on its website and on its BhooKamp app, and that is the quickest place to check the magnitude and location before trusting a forwarded message. No damage had been reported at the time of writing; an assessment from Chamoli district itself, close to the epicentre, will matter more than the shaking felt 280 km away.
