High magnitude quake rocks Bhutan, India’s northeast (Evening Lead)

GUWAHATI/THIMPU - A high magnitude earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale Monday killed at least seven people in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and wounded three others, while reports indicated damages to buildings in India’s northeastern states of Assam and Sikkim due to the tremor.

A Bhutan government official confirmed seven deaths in the eastern part of the Himalayan nation.

“Five people were killed in Mongar and two deaths were reported from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan. We are trying to get more information from the affected places with initial reports saying three more people were injured,” said U. Tenzing, the director of Bhutan’s disaster management department.

The casualties were reported when their houses collapsed or some of them were hit by flying debris.

“Most of the mud and stone houses with tin roofs caved in with several schools, monasteries and houses damaged in the earthquake,” another senior Bhutanese police official said, requesting not to be named.

Police and civil rescue teams have since fanned out to the tremor hit eastern districts of Mongar and Trashigang to look for people who could be trapped or injured.

“There was extensive damage to monasteries, schools, houses and other structures in eastern Bhutan,” a newspaper report added.

The tremors were also felt in parts of Assam, other north-eastern states of India and West Bengal at 2.24 p.m. No casualties were reported.

The epicentre was plotted in Mongar in Bhutan. Mongar, about 500 km from Thimpu, is located along the India-Bhutan border, 125 km northwest of Guwahati.

The tremor caused cracks to develop in apartments and concrete structures in Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

“At least five to six apartments in Guwahati developed visible cracks, while two buildings showed signs of slanting due to the impact of the quake,” an Assam government official said.

This is the fifth earthquake to have rocked India’s northeast region since Aug 11, Monday’s tremor being the strongest.

“The top floor where we stay was literally rocking, swaying sideways with people forced to run out of their homes. The tremor lasted for about 20 to 25 seconds at least,” said Arun Hazarika, a resident of Guwahati staying in a five-storey apartment.

The seven northeastern states - Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur - are considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake prone belt in the world.

The region experienced one of the worst earthquakes, measuring 8.7 on the Richter Scale, in 1897 that claimed the lives of over 1,600 people.