At least 12 killed, 130 injured in North-East quake

Indian soldiers and locals remove debris from a damaged building after an quake in Imphal, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.

The powerful tremor left large cracks in walls and a portion of a popular market building collapsed.

Tremors were also felt in Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar.

“So far, five deaths and 33 injuries have been reported from Imphal (8:50 a.m.)”. The damage was limited as the region is dotted with small houses with few tall buildings.

At least 100 people have reportedly been injured in Bangladesh as many with panic rushed out of their residences for safety, Xinhua reported.

The epicenter of the 6.7 magnitude quake was in the Tamenglong region, 20 miles north-west of Imphal and about 10 miles beneath ground level.

Police in Dhaka said 40 people were being treated at a major hospital in the Bangladeshi capital, including one university student who jumped from a fourth-floor balcony and was in a critical condition. Suresh Babu, additional chief secretary in Manipur, said the six-story building was under construction.

Residents say power and telecom links were down in a region, while many fled from their homes.

Including West Bengal’s, NDMA have spoken to relief commissioners of all the eight states of North East – Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland.

There were similar scenes in the northeast Indian city of Guwahati, the main commercial city of the mineral-rich state of Assam, where an AFP correspondent said residents were “in a state of shock” after being woken by the shaking.

Imphal: With the death of one more person, the quake toll in Manipur rose to seven this afternoon but no casualties were reported from Tamenglong district where the epicentre was located, officials said. In neighbouring Assam state saving teams from Guwahati, were scrambling to reach Imphal. We want to reassure the affected states that the Prime Minister is personally following up the rescue operations.