Earthquake jolts northeastern India, at least 5 dead and 100 injured

Earthquake jolts northeastern India, at least 5 dead and 100 injured

RANCHI/IMPHAL/GUWAHATI: A 6.7 magnitude earthquake jolted Manipur where at least five persons were killed and 100 injured, reportedly as it hit northeastern India early Monday morning at around 4:36 am.

There is large-scale damage in Imphal with many houses reporting huge cracks. Walls of many building have also collapsed.

The epicenter was in Tamenglong district, in Manipur according to the Indian Meteorological department whereas state government officials said the epicenter was at Noney village in Tamenglong around 35 km from Imphal.

Principal Secretary Suresh Babu said that the government is assessing the situation and providing all help to the victims.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that an NDRF team has been instructed to move from Guwahati to the areas affected by the earthquake. "Spoke to Rajnath Ji, who is in Assam, on the situation arising due to the earthquake & asked him to oversee the situation," PM Modi tweeted. The Prime Minister's office also tweeted saying PM Modi is continuously monitoring the situation in the Northeast. "He spoke to Arunachal Pradesh CM Shri Nabam Tuki," the office tweeted.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh, currently in Guwahati, also felt the earthquake in the country's highest Zone V earthquake risk zone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to oversee the situation and tweeted about his presence.

Assam, Manipur, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Bihar are the states where tremors are reported. A few people on social networks said they've seen cracks appearing in many buildings.

Imphal's famous women's market building has been damaged along with some buildings that were badly damaged even as people rushed out from their houses in the quake-hit areas. Several household objects fell and broke as the ground shook for more than a minute, says Shivachandra Singh, an Imphal resident. Works minister Ratan Khumujam today assessed the situation.

"I felt someone was waking me up. When I woke up, I felt it was a strong tremor," Sudhir Kumar a resident of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand said. No phone calls were received to the officials in the state's disaster management department. In Guwahati, people were seen running out their homes towards open spaces.

The compound wall of Congress MLA N Biren Singh's official residence at Kangla pat collapsed. Singh told that assessment of the damages is being made by the government.
India, in May, had previously witnessed a massive earthquake that shattered Nepal into pieces, which rattled the country by a powerful tremor with a magnitude of 7.4 today at 12:35 pm near Zham, 22 km away from China and Nepal border. Slight effects of the quake were also observed in India. Newsgram covered the story and below is the link with detailed information:

(IANS)

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