More Than 100 Injured As Earthquake Jolts North Eastern India

A severe earthquake ripped off an extended area of North Eastern India including the borders of

Myanmar and Bangladesh, early morning today, with at least 5 people killed and 100 injured. Measuring about 6.7 magnitude in Richter scale, the experts believe this is a severe jolt that the region has not experienced over the few couple of decades. Quite obviously, the early morning tremor is raising eyebrows of the veteran meteorologists.

The quake hit at 04:35 local time (23:05 GMT Sunday) about 29km (18 miles) northwest of Imphal, the capital of Manipur, said the reports given by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Strong tremors have been felt across the region, which end up cracking the walls of several buildings and collapsing a newly built six-story building in Imphal. Several other buildings are also reported to have been damaged.

PTI reports available till now said that the quake claimed a toll on the lives of at least 5 people in Manipur and more than 30 injured in different parts of north east India, where the tremor is felt. 

India's Meteorological Department said the epicentre is 17 kilometres (about 10 miles) down, though the quake was quite shocking. Panicked residents also fled into the streets in Bangladesh, said the BBC's Salman Saeed in Dhaka.

"People were crying and praying in the streets and in open spaces. Hundreds remained outdoors for several hours fearing aftershocks."

More than 50 people had been admitted since the quake caused several head injuries and fractures, said an official. 

The tremors have also been felt as far away as Kolkata, 600 kilometres (370 miles) away. "Many people were seen coming out of their homes in panic," local resident Rabin Dev told AFP news agency.

Following the quake, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he had spoken to the region's chief ministers and federal home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss about the situations supposedly cropping up in the wake of the earthquake.

Casualties have not yet been reported on the Myanmar side of the border, probably the sparse population in the region is the reason.

According to the geologists, the north eastern region of India has already a history of powerful earthquakes caused by the northward collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. They are moving towards each other at a rate of 4-5cm per year.

In 2005, a magnitude 7.6 quake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir left more than 75,000 people dead. In April 2015, Nepal suffered its worst earthquake on record with 9,000 people killed and about 900,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

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