Bihar bears Nepal quake brunt, toll 28 in the east

Bihar, still reeling under the devastation wrought by a killer nor'wester, bore the brunt of the massive temblor that shook the eastern and northeastern parts of the country today claiming at least 28 lives and leaving 202 injured.

 

In West Bengal, three persons were killed and 69, including 43 school children, were injured in quake-related incidents.

Giving the casualty figure in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dashed back from New Delhi during the day said seven persons were killed in East Champaran and six in Sitamarhi, which are near the international borders with Nepal.

There were three deaths in Darbhanga, two each in Madhubani, Saran and Araria and one each in Sheohar, Supual and West Champaran, he told newsmen.

Kumar said 133 people have been injured in quake-related incidents in different parts of the state.

29 were injured in Darbhanga, followed by 16 in West Champaran and 10 in Madhubani. Injuries were also reported from Sitamarhi, East Champaran, Sheohar, Supual, Nalanda, Samastipur, Gopalganj, Vaishali and Muzaffarpur, he said.

The chief minister announced ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for kin of all the dead in the earthquake and ordered free treatment of the injured. Hospitals across the state have been put on alert to provide immediate relief.

Kumar also said he had telephonic talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on quake impact in the state and the Centre was being provided with latest information regularly.

"Both the Centre and the state are working in tandem to mitigate the woes of citizens after the earthquake," he said.

The power system in the state, he said, has been affected due to the quake.Out of a total of 55 grids in Bihar, 9 tripped in the quake, including one unit each of NTPC in Kahalgaon, Kanti and Barh tripped and restoration work was underway, he added.

Director General of Police P K Thakur told PTI that all superintendents of police have been asked to alert police stations and assess the extent of damage. 

A control room has been set up for round-the-clock information on the quake, Principal Secretary to the disaster management department Vyas Jee said.

Teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been deployed in nine districts of the state for immediate help to the affected, he added.

Director of state meteorological office A K Sen said an alert has been sounded to the state government as there was possibility of secondary jerks for the next 48 hours, particularly in areas like Darbhanga, Araria and Kisanganj bordering Nepal.

In West Bengal, where a state-wide civic election was held during the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said two persons died in Darjeeling and one in Jalpaiguri districts. The two districts are in the sub-Himalayan region.

Banerjee said she had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the extensive damage caused by the quake and would go to north Bengal tomorrow to take stock of the situation.

The state government, she tweeted, was monitoring the situation closely and urged people to stay calm.

"My prayers with the people of Nepal and across India after the massive earthquake. Hope everone is safe. Stay calm," she added.

Sixtynine people were injured in three places of Malda district in roof collapse and stampede-like situation as people inside buildings tried to rush out, district authorities said.

In Sikkim, which has been experiencing minor jolts continuously for the past three days, the earthquake triggered landlsides in various parts of the mountain state, official sources said.

But there was no report of any loss of life so far and the landslips were being cleared, they said.

The tremor was also felt in Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura but there were no reports of any loss of life or damage to property.