Braving cold and pouring rain, frightened residents spent the night outside their homes in the areas rocked by Sunday’s quake in Sikkim and West Bengal.
Roads were torn up, buildings cracked, phone towers and electricity posts toppled in the 6.8 magnitude quake which triggered such a panic that an
official said injured people refused to get themselves admitted at Gangtok’s STNM Hospital out of fear after its walls developed several cracks.
Several tourists from West Bengal were stranded in Gangtok, Namchi and Kumgon in Sikkim with most of the connecting roads severely damaged, cracked
open and blocked due to landslides.
Shelters were provided by authorities to the affected people rendered homeless while the Army opened kitchens and served food to around 2,000
people in and around Gangtok.
Schools, colleges and government offices were closed in the quake-hit areas today and only a few shops remained open.
People in the hill town of Darjeeling in West Bengal and several towns in Sikkim left the main doors of their homes open fearing aftershocks.
“We were all ready to take refuge in the open should there be more quakes ... It was scary as there was total darkness in the absence of
electricity in many areas,” Angshuman Talukdar, a resident of Darjeeling, said.
In many areas, power returned at around 10.30 pm, but a large number of people preferred to brave the cold and pouring rains instead of returning
to their homes.
Talukdar, a resident of an apartment building near the station, said a large number of people preferred to stay in the government school compounds
as several homes had developed cracks. The staircase of his five-storied apartment building has partially collapsed under the impact of the tremor.
“We felt several small earthquakes last evening after the big one but none today ... The people are aware that this region is in high seismic zone
and are therefore more scared,” he said. Officials said around 70 per cent of all houses and buildings in Sikkim were damaged. — PTI