At least eight people were killed and over 100 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale rocked Manipur and other North Eastern states before dawn on Monday.
The quake, with epicentre in Noney sub-division under Manipur’s Tamenglong district, took place at around 4.30 a.m. It was also felt in Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura besides Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. In Bangladesh five deaths took place. Another aftershock of 3.4 magnitude was felt in Manipur at around 9.30 a.m.
Manipur deputy chief minister Gaikhangam while announcing the ex-gratia of Rs five lakh each to the families of the deceased said that government has confirmed death of eight persons including four women. However, names of only seven persons were available till the time of filing this report. Of the seven three were in Imphal West, two each in Imphal East and Senapati districts.
In Manipur’s Imphal West district, the deceased were identified as Kangujam Ibotombi Singh (64), Debumaya Mote (55) and Darsha Mote (11). From Imphal East– Dijapati (17) and Moirangthem Sharat (56). The deceased from Senapati district– Geeta Rimal (19) and Motilal (57).
Meanwhile, Education Minister M. Okendro informed that the government would be paying for the medical treatment of all the injured. All the injured some in critical condition were rushed RIMS hospital, Shija hospital, JNIMS hospital and Raj Medicity hospital.
Schools would remain shut for seven days to assess damage to the buildings in order to ensure safety of the student community, he said.
Telecommunication and electricity services were badly disrupted in the affected areas while hundreds of houses were badly damaged across Manipur Union minister of state for home affairs, Kiren Rijiju and union minister of state for DoNER Dr Jitendra Singh arrived Imphal to take stock of the situation.
Central government also rushed two NDRF team comprising over 80 personnel to assist Manipur government in the rescue operations. The NDRF teams were dispatched from Guwahati with equipments, medicines and essential commodities.
The toll in Manipur could rise even as rescue operations were on, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Ibobi Singh, and urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Assam and who personally felt the quake, to oversee the situation. Ibobi also called for an emergency cabinet meeting. Ibobi along with his cabinet colleagues visited the hospitals and also assured that the government has taken all steps to deal with the disaster.
Ibobi said that the state government has setup a 24 hours service control room (0385-2440909) to assist and monitor the situation.
Rapid medical response teams have been set up in all the nine districts, essential medicines and medical kits have been procured and dispatched to all the district headquarters as well as to Moreh, Jiribam and Kangpokpi, he said. “At this crucial juncture, I sincerely appeal to all citizens of the state to stay calm and not pay any heed to rumour mongering. Mischievous and anti-social elements have a habit of trying to spread panic and false facts,” he said.
In New Delhi, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) coordinated with northeastern states and the ministries of home affairs and defence and other agencies, a home ministry statement said.
Assam: A Guwahati report said at least 20 people suffered minor injuries as some buildings across Assam developed cracks.
W. Bengal: At least 12 people were injured in northern West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts.
President condoles
President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the loss of lives due following the strong earthquake that hit Manipur and other parts of the North Eastern states. In a message to V. Shanmuganathan, Governor of Manipur, Pranab said “I am sad to learn about the loss of lives, injuries and damage to property caused by the earthquake in Manipur. He also conveyed heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and wished speedy recovery to the injured persons.
Facebook ‘safety check’
“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. “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 stated.