The Kashmir valley was rocked by a sharp tremor at around midnight on Friday night, and felt two others, one at about 2 p.m. and another in the evening on Saturday. A student died of a heart attack after the nocturnal tremblor, while people came out of doors in panic in many areas.

The evening's earthquake was the fifth experienced by the valley in the past 10 days, and details of any damage it might have caused are awaited.

Friday night's tremor occurred at 12:11 a.m. measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale, and was centered near Pulwama.

Though there are no reports of any damage to property from any part of the valley, but a 22-year-old youth, Aamir Ahmad, died of a heart attack in the Chandgam area of Pulwama.

Though the quakes were of light intensity, but their frequency has sparked fear and concern among the public.

According to experts, volcanic activity in the Himalayan mountain system from Nepal to Kashmir is responsible for the frequent tremors in the valley.

Since Srinagar falls in the most dangerous seismic zone, it will continue to experience earthquakes with some degree of regularity.

Experts believe that when earthquakes occur frequently, they have a low magnitude, but if a tremor comes after a long time in a highly vulnerable zone, it is of large magnitude.

This is why the tremors of the past days were of low intensity, but experts warn that this cannot rule out a high intensity earthquake.

In view of this possibility, the administration in the Kashmir division has put its disaster management wing on alert, and is advising about precautions in case of an earthquake.

Coordinator of the disaster management wing in the divisional administration, Aamir Ali, said that some people were spreading rumours about an earthquake in a particular area which are totally baseless because earthquakes cannot be predicted.

"However, measures can be taken to minimize loss of life. They include quake-resistant constructions and precautions during an earthquake," he said.

Valley Witnesses Sudden Rise in Temperatures

For the second day in succession, Saturday saw the high temperature mark above 18 degrees Celsius, nearly nine degrees above normal. The met office has however predicted rain or snow in next two days.

In capital Srinagar, Saturday's high went to 18 degrees, nine above normal, just a week after residents had been in the middle of a cold wave with heavy snowfall.

But the valley is likely to see rain or snow Sunday, the weatherman says.