7 dead, 19 hurt as walls collapse

At least seven persons, including five minors, were killed while 19 sustained injuries after tremors led to the collapse of houses in several districts of Uttar Pradesh. UP Met director J P Gupta said the intensity of tremors in the state was below 6 on Richter scale (low intensity).

The tremors caused a wall to collapse in Basantapur village in Mohammadpur Khala police station area, killing Seema Yadav (42) and her niece Shanti (6) and leaving nine others injured. The injured have been admitted to the district hospital.

Nisha, 15, was killed in a wall collapse at Majhula village in Sharawasti district. Aman Kumar Soni (10) was killed while another child sustained injuries after the ceiling of a house caved in Kanpur Dehat’s Shivli area.

While Khushbu, 9, died when a wall collapsed in Kudwa village in Sant Kabir Nagar, a two-and-a-half year old child Raj was killed in Takurpur village in a similar incident.

Thirty-eight-year-old Basmati Devi was killed in Mohammada Jangle Barwa village. Two persons sustained injuries after the tremors led to a stampede-like situation in State Bank of India’s branch in Gorakhpur’s Sahjanwa area.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone and told him that the state government machinery had been put on high alert.

To take stock of situation in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, the PM also spoke to Union Minister Kalraj Mishra who was in Varanasi on Saturday.

The CM has announced a financial help of Rs 7 lakh to the kin of each deceased, Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured and Rs 20,000 for those with minor injuries.

Lucknow Chief Medical Officer S N S Yadav said all hospitals in the city had been alerted and beds had been reserved for quake victims.

Following the earthquake in Nepal, a Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight, that took off from Mumbai with 177 passengers on board, was diverted to Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport. The flight landed at Lucknow airport at 1.23 pm left for Mumbai an hour later after refueling.

Source:: Indian Express