At least Seven people were killed and over 90 injured as a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake epicentred in Manipur today hit the northeastern region, causing damage to buildings and triggering panic.
Here are the live updates:
6.30 pm: At least 30 persons injured in tremor; several buildings, govt offices and houses developed cracks in Assam. - AIR
5.40 pm: MoS Home Kiren Rijiju, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh meet Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh over Earthquake.
5.33 pm: Home Minister and MoS Home who were in North East were told to asses situation there, says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
5.25 pm: Whatever kind of assistance is required will be forthcoming, says Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO.
4.58 pm: Manipur Government decides to close all government and private schools for the coming 7 days.
4.28 pm: At least 12 people were injured in West Bengal.
As many as eight people were hospitalised in the Siliguri District Hospital while four were brought in at Jalpaiguri hospital, officials said, adding that there were no immediate reports of any casualty.
In Murshidabad district’s Lalbagh, villagers claimed that a senior citizen died while being evacuated from his residence. However, district administration officials were yet to confirm the death.
The quake, having its epicentre in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, occurred at 4.35 a.m. It was felt in parts of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. - IANS
4.00 pm: 2 NDRF teams on spot in Imphal, says Kamal Kishore, member of NDMA.
3.30 pm: Seven dead and 52 injured in Manipur.
3.00 pm: One more team of NDRF airlifted to Silchar, Assam to help the earthquake affected people.
1:20 pm: Power supply to Imphal city has been disrupted and some power installations have suffered damage, an official statement said after Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha held a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) this morning.
1:10 pm: Manipur bore the brunt of the temblor, jolting the people out of their sleep. Many buildings collapsed or developed cracks in Tamenglong. Of the six deaths in Manipur, three were killed in Imphal West district, one at Jiribam in Imphal East district and two in Senapati districts, officilas said.
1:05 pm: Nine aftershocks occurred till Monday noon in the wake of the 6.7 magnitude temblor that occurred in Manipur in the early hours.The aftershocks including a 3.6 magnitude tremor were recorded by the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute’s broadband seismological network, which was installed in the North-east region. >Read more
Seismogram of the main earthquake in Manipur recorded by CSIR-NGRI Network in North-East India on Monday morning. - Courtesy: NGRI
12.30 pm: The Army and Air Force have started working on relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Manipur. A defence official said an AN32 plane of Air Force was going to Imphal from Guwahati to take 75 NDRF personnel for relief and rescue operations.
12.20 pm: Earthquake was also felt in several parts of Jharkhand with people rushing out from homes in Dumka. People in Ranchi, Giridih, Chatra, Lohardaga districts also experienced mild tremors, officials said.
The interior of a market is seen damaged in the earthquake. Photo: AP
12:13 pm: Facebook has activated its safety check tool to help people in the area let friends and family know they are safe. “A major earthquake just struck northeastern India and we’ve activated Safety Check to help people in the area let friends and family know they’re safe,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote. “Tremors were also felt in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. If you appear to be nearby, we will send you a notification to access Safety Check so you can share that you are safe and see that people you care about are safe as well,” Zuckerberg posted on Facebook.
12:10 pm: At least three people were killed and about 40 others injured today in Bangladesh in quake—related incidents as people rushed out in panic. The tremor was felt throughout Bangladesh around 4:35 AM local time. In Dhaka, most people rushed out to the streets in panic.
12:00 pm: Congress President Sonia Gandhi expressed “deep distress” over the loss of lives and the destruction due to the earthquake and asked Chief Ministers in the region to ensure immediate relief and rescue operations. “Sonia Gandhi has expressed deep distress at the reported deaths and destruction caused by the earthquake in North Eastern States,” a party statement said.
11.45 am: Cabinet Secretary, P. K. Sinha chaired a meeting of National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to "assess the situation and provide all necessary help from Government of India after Manipur earthquake," a Press Information Bureau release said. > Read more.
11.40 am: A report from Agartala said the tremor was felt across Tripura today, but there was no report of any casualty or damage to property so far, Programme officer of the state disaster management, Sarat Das said.
11.30 am: Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, who is currently shooting for his upcoming film “Te3n” in Kolkata, also tweeted about the quake:
T 2102 -EARTHQUAKE ! felt it around 4.30 am here in Kolkata, bed shook .. i wondered..confirmed this morning .. May all be safe ! PRAYERS !
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) >January 4, 2016
11:10 am: The intensity of Manipur's earthquake is “second highest” in nearly 60 years, says Manichandra Sanoujam, the chief of Seismological Observatory of Manipur University. “It was 7.3 in Reichter scale in 1957. It was 6.7, last night,” he said. “So far more than 24 aftershocks are recorded,” he added. > Read more
10.20 am: “The traditional 'mother's market' building in the centre of Imphal has collapsed partially,” said Koireng Aheibam of Centre for Manipur Studies in Manipur University. At least 20 people are admitted in North East's main medical college and hospital, the RIMS in Imphal, > reports Suvojit Bagchi.
10:00 am: Fresh tremor measuring 3.6 on richter scale in Manipur.
9:50 am: The high-intensity earthquake also jolted parts of Tibet with many residents waking up after feeling the ground shake. The earthquake affected the prefectures of Nyingchi, Shannan and Qamdo as well as the regional capital Lhasa reporting “strong tremors."
9:45 am: National Disaster Response Force teams have been rushed to Northeast early today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Guwahati as he took stock of the situation. The Home Ministry is actively monitoring the situation after the earthquake in the Northeastern region. NDRF teams, including from Guwahati, have rushed to the affected areas, he said. > Read more
9:30 am: There is continuous communication with the State Government. NDMA is monitoring and coordinating all relief activities: MHA
9:15 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to oversee situation in quake-hit North-East.
I'm also contacting other North Eastern states to know the extent of damage caused by the earthquake.
— Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) >January 4, 2016
9:05 am: The Prime Minister's Office tweeted that NDRF team has been sent to the areas affected by the quake:
NDRF team has been instructed to move from Guwahati to the areas affected by the earthquake.
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) >January 4, 2016
PM is continuously monitoring the situation in the Northeast due to the earthquake. He spoke to Arunachal Pradesh CM Shri Nabam Tuki.
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) >January 4, 2016
8:45 am: Also, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who was in Siliguri tweeted:
Felt my room shake, in Siliguri government guest house! Hope everyone is ok. >#tremor .
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) >January 3, 2016
8:15 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about the quake:
Had a telephone conversation with Assam CM Shri Tarun Gogoi on the earthquake in the state & the region.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) >January 4, 2016
8:00 am: The death and injuries were caused by falling debris in and around Imphal, police said. There were reports of damage to a popular market in Imphal, the capital of Manipur. The tremor left large cracks in several walls and a portion of the building collapsed, police said.
7:50 am: India’s Meteorological Department said the epicentre of the quake was in Tamenglong region of Manipur. It struck before dawn on Monday at a depth of 17 kilometres in the India-Myanmar border region. The U.S. Geological Survey said the depth was 55 kilometres.
7:30 am: The epicentre of the earthquake was 35 kilometres northwest of Imphal. People panicked and rushed out of their homes in Gauhati, the capital of neighboring Assam state, as they felt massive shaking at least twice within 60 seconds.
7:10 am: In Imphal, residents said furniture was knocked over and books fell off shelves but no major damage has been reported so far.
“The ground swayed for almost a minute, jolting people awake in their homes,” said one resident, Apem Arthur. The area is dotted with small houses. There are few tall buildings in the region, she said. The tremors were also felt in Kolkata.
6:45 am: A 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit the country’s remote northeast region before dawn on Monday, killing at least five people, injuring 100 others and causing damage to several buildings.
Late last year, a > powerful earthquake struck Nepal killing nearly 7,000 across four countries. It was the worst temblor to hit the South Asian nation in over 80 years. The Himalayan earthquake left devastation in its wake.
