5.6 Magnitude Earthquake Near Bhutan Shakes North Bengal and the Northeast

A strong earthquake measuring 5.6 on the magnitude scale struck near Bhutan on the night of 7 June 2026, sending tremors across North Bengal, parts of the Northeast and even Kolkata. The quake occurred at around 11:06 pm and had its epicentre close to Punakha in Bhutan, to the north of West Bengal and Assam. The epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface directly above where the energy of the earthquake is released underground. The tremors lasted only a few seconds, but they were strong enough to make many residents step out of their homes as a safety measure. Officials confirmed that there was no immediate report of any deaths or damage to property.

The shaking was felt across a wide area. In West Bengal, people in Siliguri, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar reported the tremors, while residents of Kolkata also felt the ground move. In the Northeast, parts of Assam experienced the quake, and in Sikkim the capital Gangtok and other towns felt the jolts, prompting people to rush outdoors. The tremors were also noticed in neighbouring Bangladesh and within Bhutan itself. The earthquake had a shallow focus at a depth of about 10 kilometres; shallow earthquakes are usually felt more strongly at the surface because the energy does not lose much strength before reaching the ground. Notably, this event came only hours after a weaker 4.0 magnitude earthquake hit Afghanistan at a much greater depth of around 160 kilometres.

The strength of an earthquake is commonly described using the magnitude scale, which grew out of the older Richter scale developed in the 1930s. This scale measures the amount of energy released by an earthquake. It is logarithmic, which means each whole-number step represents about 32 times more energy than the step below it. So a magnitude 6 quake releases far more energy than a magnitude 5 one. A reading of 5.6 is considered moderate, capable of being felt over a large region and of causing minor damage, but it is much weaker than the major quakes of magnitude 7 and above that can flatten buildings.

The Himalayan belt and the Northeast of India are among the most earthquake-prone parts of the world, and the science behind this is important for students to understand. The Earth's outer shell is broken into large slabs called tectonic plates that slowly move over time. The Indian plate is steadily pushing northward into the Eurasian plate, and this collision is what built the Himalayas and continues to raise them. Where the two plates grind and lock against each other, enormous stress builds up underground. When that stress is suddenly released, it produces an earthquake. Because Bhutan, Sikkim, North Bengal and the Northeast all sit along this active collision zone, they experience frequent tremors. India is divided into four seismic zones based on the level of earthquake risk: Zone II (lowest risk), Zone III (moderate), Zone IV (high) and Zone V (highest risk). The entire Northeast, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Kachchh region of Gujarat fall in Zone V, the most dangerous category.

For exam aspirants, this event ties together several high-value topics. In geography, expect questions on plate tectonics, the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, the meaning of epicentre, focus and magnitude, and India's four seismic zones. In current affairs and governance, remember that disaster management in India is led by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), set up under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and chaired by the Prime Minister, while the National Centre for Seismology is the nodal agency that records and monitors earthquakes. Aspirants should be able to identify which states lie in Zone V, explain why the Himalayan region is so seismically active, and recall basic earthquake-safety steps such as 'Drop, Cover and Hold' during shaking.