Why were Delhi earthquake tremors strong despite a low magnitude?

An earthquake jolted the people of Delhi and its surrounding areas up from their sleep on Monday morning. The earthquake was of a magnitude 4 on the Richter scale. Many people, however, claimed they had never felt such a strong jolt. Why did the earthquake feel strong despite a low magnitude?

People ran out of their homes as the earthquake struck the capital at around 5:36 am on Monday morning, at a depth of five kilometres. Srijan Pal Singh, the former advisor to the 11th President of India and founder of Kalam Centre and Homi lab, explained the phenomenon on X. He said that the residents felt "bigger tremors than ever before" because the epicenter was in Delhi itself. “This is how quakes feel at the epicenter," he said.