Guwahati, Aug 19 - An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale shook India's northeast Wednesday, officials said.

An official at the regional seismological centre in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, said the tremor took place at 4.15 p.m. and had its epicentre along Sonitpur in northern Assam, about 180 km from Assam's main city of Guwahati.

The quake shook houses and other structures in Assam and adjoining Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

People ran out of their homes and offices with the tremor lasting for about 15 seconds.

'There has been no immediate report of damage caused by the quake,' officials said.

The seven northeastern states -- Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur -- considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake prone belt in the world, experienced India's worst earthquake, measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, in 1897, killing 1,600 people.