Imphal/Itanagar, Oct 11 (IANS): A moderate earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale hit western Manipur's Tamenglong district on Sunday, the third quake to hit the mountainous area in 16 hours, officials said.

A mild quake measuring 2.5 on the Richter scale also hit western Arunachal Pradesh's West Kameng district on Sunday, the second tremor to hit the mountainous region in 48 hours. According to the Disaster Management officials of the two northeastern states, no report of loss of life or damage to property has been received yet.

Officials said that both the quakes in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh lasted for several seconds, forcing panic-stricken people to run out of their homes. According to the data of the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), a moderate quake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale occurred at 3.55 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in western Manipur's Tamenglong district and was at a depth of 52 km.

A major quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale occurred at 11.08 p.m. late on Saturday night in the same Tamenglong district and was at a depth of 28 km. Another minor quake measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale occurred at 11.39 p.m. late on Saturday night in the same district and was at a depth of 30 km. Successive earthquakes in the mountainous northeastern states specially in Mizoram and Manipur have the authorities worried.

Northeastern states, specially Mizoram, frequently witness mild to moderate earthquakes force the public and private builders to construct quake preventive houses. Seismologists consider the mountainous northeastern region as the sixth most earthquake-prone belt in the world.