Fresh tremors were today felt in northern and eastern parts of India including in Delhi sparking panic even as the death toll in the country after a powerful quake struck Nepal yesterday rose to 62.
The tremors triggered by a strong 6.7-magnitude aftershock epicentred in Nepal today were experienced in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi for over 30 seconds at 12:42 PM. There were reports of people scurrying for safety in several cities and towns.
The Government announced Rs 6 lakh compensation to the kin of those killed in the country due to the quake as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of rescue and relief operations both at home and in Nepal at a review meeting and directed that they be speeded up through close coordination among agencies.
At a joint news conference with top officials who included Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Home Secretary L C Goyal said the death toll in India today stood at 62 and the number of injured was 259. Yesterday, 51 deaths were reported.
Giving the breakup, Goyal said Bihar accounted for 46 deaths while the other deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh(13), West Bengal(2) and Rajasthan(one). A minor girl in Rajasthan was among those killed today in fresh tremors when a hut collapsed at Roniza village in Bharatpur district.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar put the death toll in his state at 50.
As many as eight aftershocks have been felt in Bihar in the past 24 hours since a high intensity earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale rocked Nepal and adjoining countries yesterday claiming over 2,000 lives, a MET official said in Patna.
Out of 38 aftershocks emanating from the epicentre of earthquake in Nepal since yesterday, eight have been felt in Bihar measuring between 5.5 and 6.9 on Richter Scale, the Patna MET Director A.K. Sen told PTI.
