JOIN US A quake of 6.8 magnitude on the Richer scale, epicentered in Myanmar, on Wednesday struck several parts of east and northeast India including West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand, triggering panic but there were no reports of casualties.
The quake, which was the aftershock of a massive earthquake, caused Kolkata city metro services to be halted and high-rises evacuated.
At around 4: 08 pm, the quake hit Kolkata and other parts of Bengal, including the Darjeeling Hills in the north. Panicked, thousands of people came out on streets and the state government suspended work at the state secretariat, Nabanna.
Government employees rushed out of the 15-storied building in fear and gathered downstairs away from it. Soon, the state chief secretary declared that all work was being suspended for the day.
Similar scenes were noticed across the city where high-rise offices and shopping malls were evacuated.
Kolkata Metro authorities halted all trains and temporarily suspended services, urging commuters to leave the underground stations in an orderly manner.
Meanwhile, nearly 16 months after Bihar was struck by a high intensity earthquake in April 2015, a quake of equally high intensity hit Bihar and Jharkhand on Wednesday at 4:10 pm.
The quake was felt at most of the districts in Bihar including Patna, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Khagaria, Purnia, Araria and Kishanganj. Since the epicentre of the earthquake was in Myanmar, the quake hit Jharkhand too.