Four dead, 100 injured as quake rocks Northeast India

Several household objects fell and broke as the ground shook for more than a minute, says Shivachandra Singh, a Imphal resident.

People in Bangladesh and Nepal also ran from their homes, and the quake was felt as far away as Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, 1,176km (730 miles) away to the south.

There are few tall buildings in the region, although a newly constructed six-story building collapsed in Imphal, police said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was 57 kms (35 miles) deep and struck 29 kms west of Imphal.

It said buildings in the area were largely “highly vulnerable to quake shaking”.

Five were killed in India, the government said, while three people died in Bangladesh after suffering strokes or heart attacks following the early morning quake.

Social media users have posted photographs of structural damage to buildings, including entirely flattened structures, and crowds gathering outside. Associated Press (AP) reported that the Indian Meteorological Department had put the natural disaster at a much shallower depth of 17 kilometers (10 miles). A bridge additionally was broken on the outskirts of Imphal, cops officers stated.

“Two persons have died and around 20 injury cases were reported in Guwahati but a lot of them were minor cases”.

Police officer L. Ragui said dozens of homes were slightly damaged in Tamenglong.

NDMA spoke to the control room and relief commissioners of all the states in the North-East including Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and the State of West Bengal.

“It was decided that NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) will send two teams to Imphal immediately for relief and rescue”.

PM Narendra Modi spoke to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is now in Assam, saying that all the necessary steps to be taken for the affected.

The BBC adds that the region has a history of powerful earthquakes caused by the northward collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, which are moving towards each other at a rate of 4-5cm per year.