Nepal Earthquake: Aftershocks rock West Bengal

A person show cracked wall of his house due to earthquake at Civil Lines at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal on Sunday. (Source: PTI Photo)

Fresh tremors were felt twice today in different parts of West Bengal at noon and at night triggering panic among the people who ran out of homes and gathered on the streets.

Following the 7.9 magnitude temblor that left three people of the state dead yesterday, the first aftershock was felt at 12.40 PM and the second one at 9.56 PM.

However, there was no report from any casualty or injury from anywhere, the police said.

The magnitude of the first earthquake on the Richter Scale is 6.9 and the tremors were felt in Kolkata and the surrounding areas,” a senior official of Kolkata Meteorological department told PTI.

The tremor was felt in different parts of north Bengal especially in Jalpaiguri and Siliguri.

Metro services in Kolkata were temporarily stopped following the first tremor because of safety reasons.

Tremors were also experienced in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Bankura and East Midnapur districts of the state, reports reaching here said.

The second aftershock was measured 5.3 on the Richter Scale, Gopinath Raha, in-charge of Sikkim Meteorological Department said.

The quake has brought the people of Jalpaiguri town on road as they are scared to go back home.

“The children are scared, they are crying. They do not want to return,” said one of them.

A woman, who stays in a high rise building, said though she is returning home, she will ask the caretaker of the building to keep the main gate unlocked even at night for easy passage outside.

“Nobody knows when the earthquake will start again,” she said.

The three persons who were killed after yesterday’s severe earthquake were from Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and Naxalbari, all in North Bengal.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited North Bengal on Sunday which bore the brunt of Saturday’s quake.

Source:: Indian Express