1st LD Writethru: Quake of 5.8 magnitude hits North India

A moderate earthquake Monday night hit India's northern state of Uttarakhand, officials said.

According to Indian Meteorological Department, the earthquake measuring 5.8 magnitude occurred at 10:33 p.m. (local time) Monday.

"The epicenter of earthquake was Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand located at 30.5 degrees north latitude and 79.1 degrees east longitude," the information released on website of Indian Meteorological Department said. "The depth of the earthquake was 33 km."

Rudraprayag is about 180 km east of Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand.

Apart from Uttarakhand, the earthquake was felt in neighboring states and in Indian capital city of Delhi.

Reports said panic-stricken people rushed out of buildings and gathered in open streets.

"I was working in office and suddenly an empty bottle on my desk dropped due to a sudden jolt, no sooner I was trying to figure out what happened tremors began to shake the whole building," Anil Agrawal, a Delhi resident told Xinhua.

"Following the tremors, all the people inside office building immediately came out of the building."

Local television news channels showed images of people standing in open streets outside their houses in wake of the earthquake.

So far there were no reports of any damage or loss of lives in the earthquake.

In 2015 a powerful earthquake with 7.8 magnitude struck India's neighboring country Nepal, causing large scale destruction and killing over 5,000 people and injuring another 8,000. Endit