The earthquake struck in the Bay of Bengal region

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale hit the Bay of Bengal region on Wednesday night, officials from the Indian earthquake monitoring network said. The epicentre was 10 km below sea level but there is no tsunami alert, said officials from the Indian tsunami warning centre in Hyderabad. ( Buzz on Twitter The quake struck at 9:51 pm, about 275 km south east of the Paradip port in Odisha.Tremors were felt across India, in Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata and Odisha. In Delhi, many residents said that aftershocks lasted for 40 seconds.The region is not prone to earthquakes, so it is puzzling seismologists as to why a quake has struck so close to the east coast of India.

In the past, earthquakes have occurred mostly in the region around the Andaman and Nicobar islands which are prone to quakes. It will take many weeks to resolve why an earthquake struck so close to the coast of India.