Earthquake Hits India’s Northeast, Leaves Five Dead
Buildings collapse in 6.7 magnitude quake
An injured Indian woman is comforted by her husband as she waits for treatment at Siliguri Hospital following an earthquake. Photo: diptendu dutta/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By Joanna Sugden And Vibhuti Agarwal
NEW DELHI—At least five people were killed and more than 30 injured when a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck the northeast Indian state of Manipur, close to the country’s border with Myanmar early Monday, authorities said.
Maj. Gen. Anurag Gupta of the National Disaster Management Authority said at least one building had collapsed in Imphal, Manipur’s capital city. Homes and shops in surrounding villages were also destroyed, he said. Buildings at the airport there were damaged, but it was still operating.
India’s Meteorological Department said the quake was of “moderate intensity” and occurred at 4.35 a.m. local time. The U.S. Geological Survey said it occurred 18 miles west of Imphal at a depth of 34 miles.
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Teams from India’s National Disaster Response Force have been sent to the area, along with a planeload of relief supplies, Maj. Gen. Gupta said.
L. Ragui, superintendent of police in Tamenglong district near the epicenter of the quake, said that four people were injured in the village of Noney from falling walls and a collapsing ceiling while they were sleeping.
A police station in the town of Nungba was also damaged when walls and ceilings collapsed, Mr. Ragui said. Apart from that there was “no heavy damage or casualties,” he added.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actively monitoring the situation after speaking to the chief ministers of the nearby states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia, a spokesman for India’s Home Ministry said.
Moderate to large earthquakes in the region around the northeast of India, where the subcontinent collides with the Eurasia plate, are fairly common, the U.S.G.S. said in a statement on its website. Some 19 other quakes greater than magnitude 6 have occurred within 156 miles of Monday’s temblor in the past 100 years, it said.
The largest, it said, was a 8-magnitude quake in 1946.
Source: Wall Street Journal
