New Delhi: Strong earthquake measuring 6.8 at Richter scale jolted parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh, killing at least 48 people and injuring several others on Sunday.
According to Indian media, Tremors were felt in Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata, New Delhi and the National Capital Region.
Four people died in Sikkim, one each was killed in West Bengal and Bihar. In Nepal, five people were killed. Around 100 others were reported to be injured.
The epicentre of the quake – which hit at 6.10 pm – was located at a depth of 10 kilometre at Mangan and Sakyong areas, over 50 km from Gangtok on Sikkim-Nepal border.
“Tremors were felt between 30 seconds to one minute in some parts of Sikkim, including Gangtok,” Shailesh Nayak, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said in Delhi. Gyatso described it as “a massive earthquake”.
Three aftershocks of 5.7, 5.3 and 4.6 magnitude on the Richter scale were felt in the region within 30 minutes of the first quake.
In Sikkim, four persons were killed – two at Singtham, one at Dikchu in East Sikkim district and another at Mangan.
In West Bengal, one person was killed when a mud house collapsed in Milan tea garden due to earthquake in Jalpaiguri district. Another person died in Nalanda district in Bihar.
A wall of the British embassy in Kathmandu, located in the Lainchaur area close to the Indian embassy, collapsed after the quake, smashing a car and killing three people inside. Dozens were injured as houses crashed across the mountainous country, snapping communication lines.
Reports said the quake and incessant rains triggered landslides in many parts leading to blocking of several roads. Two buildings of the Indo Tibetan Border Police collapsed in Pegong area.
The tremors were also felt in Assam, parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Reports said few houses collapsed in Bihar’s Katihar and capital Patna. However, no loss of live has been reported from there so far.
In Assam, one woman was injured in Dhubri district on Assam-Bengal border, buildings developed cracks in various parts of the state and electric poles fell. Official sources in Guwahati the woman was injured when a wall of her house collapsed.
As buildings shook, people rushed out of their houses and took refuge in open places.
“We saw computers, chairs and tables rattling in our office,” said Manu Singh and Binod Singh, who were among those who rushed out in the open in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
In the Indian capital, the tremor was felt in certain parts — the second such experience within a fortnight after Delhiites were jolted around midnight on September 7 by an earthquake of 4.3 magnitude.
Delhi’s suburb Gurgaon and some other parts of the National Capital Region experienced very mild tremor.
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