Garhwal quake toll 100, 300 hurt

CHAMOLI (UP), March 29 (PTI, UNI) — At least 100 persons were killed and nearly 300 injured as a severe earthquake rocked the northern India causing widespread devastation in Chamoli and adjoining Rudraprayag districts of Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of today, according to official reports.

A PTI team of reporters, who spoke to officials from different districts at Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal, said the officials put the toll in the two districts at 100 and added that it was likely to go up.

However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Yogendra Narayan had earlier told reporters in Lucknow that the toll stood at 85 with 56 deaths reported from Chamoli and 29 from Rudraprayag.

Unofficial estimates put the death toll at 150 persons with debris of hundreds of houses razed to the ground still to be cleared in the two districts.

The earthquake, whose epicentre was in Chamoli, occurred at 12.40 a.m., lasted nearly 40 seconds and measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.

Chamoli district police chief Sridhar Pathak said on telephone that about 10 tremors were experienced between 12.40 a.m. and 2 a.m.

Official sources said the toll was likely to go up as the debris of collapsed buildings was yet to be cleared and reports of devastation from the far-flung and inaccessible areas were still pouring in.

Rescue and relief operations were in full swing and 20 medical teams with an Army contingent had been rushed to the affected areas.

A major road leading to Chamoli had been blocked by landslides, hampering rescue and relief work. Telephone lines in the area had been badly damaged, snapping communication links.

This pilgrim town is the gateway to Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts.

A report from Chamoli said over 500 houses had been razed to the ground in Chamoli district alone and another 100 in Rudraprayag.

Rescue workers with the help of Army and ITBP personnel were rummaging through the debris to look for survivors and the dead and were busy clearing road blocks caused by the earthquake.

Air force helicopters were also pressed into service to survey the extent of damage.

President K.R. Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee expressed grief over the loss of life and property. Mr Vajpayee also directed the authorities to rush all assistance to the affected areas.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Yogendra Narayan apprehended that 80 per cent to 90 per cent houses in Chamoli, having a population of about 50,000, had collapsed.

Five persons, including a woman in police custody, died when the wall of the lock-up collapsed in Chamoli district. Five policemen were also injured in the incident.

Communication lines of the district with the rest of the country were snapped by the quake.

Water and electricity supplies were also adversely affected.

Seismological officials said that 14 aftershocks measuring 2.5 to 4.9 on the Richter scale had been recorded till 10 a.m. today.

With late night warnings aired through the public address systems in temples and mosques, panic-stricken residents spent the night on roads and other open places.

Mild tremors were still being experienced in Chamoli and neighbouring Gopeshwar and people had been asked to remain outside their houses.

While ITBP, police and Home Guard jawans had been pressed into service to conduct relief and rescue operations, they were finding it difficult because of the debris piled up all over, the reports said.

There were also reports of heavy damage in Tehri, Uttarkashi, Bageshwar, Almora and Champawat districts in the Garhwal and Kumaon hills.

A report from Delhi said Army columns were moved into the quake-hit areas of Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts for relief and rescue operations as IAF helicopters launched an aerial survey of the affected areas.

While three columns of the Army, comprising 450 personnel had been moved into the affected districts, three helicopters also reached Chamoli following requests by the state administration for conducting an aerial survey and reconnaissance, Defence Ministry sources said.

Western and central air commands were asked to assist in the relief operations and a large number of aircraft and helicopters were standing by at air bases in Bareilly, Sarsawa, Gorakhpur and Hindon, they said.

Army columns, including medical and engineering teams, were rushed from Joshimath and Rudraprayag for rescue and relief operations, they carried food items with them for distribution among the quake-hit people.

The tremors were felt across North India, rudely waking up people from their sleep, most of whom spent rest of the night in the open.

The cities included Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Srinagar, Jaipur, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ambala, Chandigarh and Shimla. The impact was also felt in Pune in the western part of the country.

The earthquake also rocked the Nanda Devi mountain area on the Sino-India border and caused cracks in a few buildings in Shimla and Sirmour, Sonepat in Haryana and Ambala in Haryana.

Aftershocks to continue
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, March 29 (PTI) — Several parts of North India experienced more than 27 aftershocks (these are likely to continue for the next few days) after a mild to severe intensity quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Chamoli district, Uttar Pradesh, hit the region at 12.35 a.m. this morning, claiming over 85 lives and injuring 150.

The intensity of the quake, which lasted 30 seconds, was more than the earthquakes in Jabalpur (6.0), Latur (6.3) and Uttarkashi (6.6) in recent times which claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands injured.

Seismologists have so far recorded 27 aftershocks with an intensity less than 4.9 on the Richter scale. These are likely to continue for a few more days, experts say.

The earthquake, which hit northern India early this morning and claimed several lives resulted from seismic activity in the Himalyan region, according to the experts.

"The plate boundary activity and the central thrust in the Himalayan region was the main reason for the quake which occurred early this morning," the Deputy Director-General (Seismology), Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Dr S.N. Bhattacharya, told The Tribune.

Two fault lines pass across the Himalayan region - main central thrust (MCT) and main boundary fault (MBF). Chamoli and Uttarkashi fall on the MCT while the MBF passes through the Shimla-Dehra Dun-Almora belt. The entire area falling on or between the MCT and the MBF is seismologically active.

The latitude of the Chamoli quake was 30.2 degree North and the longitude was 79.5 degree East. The epicentre of the quake was in Chamoli District.

Dr Bhattacharya said the tremor, which hit at 0035 hours, lasted 30 seconds. So far 27 aftershocks with an intensity less than 4.9 on the Richter scale had been recorded. These were likely to continue for a few more days.

The quake in Chamoli and Rudraprayag area early this morning was felt in almost entire North India. (The region falls in "zone 5" in the seismic zonal map). Dr Bhattacharya said "seismologically this region falls in the most quake-prone area."

Other parts of the country which fall in this zone were Kangra region in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, the Kutch region, the whole of the North-East and the Andaman Islands.

Earthquakes are classified as ‘very great’ (magnitude of 8 or more on the Richter scale), ‘great’ (7 to 7.9), ‘moderate’ (5 to 6.9) and ‘slight’ (up to 4.9).

The earthquake map of the country was being re-drawn by the IMD following a spurt in seismic activity in zones which till now were considered "less vulnerable," Dr Bhattacharya said.

The need to re-draw the quake map had arisen as seismic activity had been witnessed in zones which were considered to be less prone to earthquakes, the Deputy Director-General said.

In seismically active areas, a quake measuring more than 6.5 on the Richter scale could occur once in 20 years and that measuring 6 once in 10 years, according to Dr H.N. Srivastava, working with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

According to a statistical analysis carried out by Dr Srivastava and the Director (Seismology) Mr R.S.Dattatreya, in 1986, a quake measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale may occur in a particular area once in 40 years and more than 8 once in 200 years.

"In a terrain like the Himalayan region, the intensity decreases at a much faster rate with distance than in the plains. The rapid attenuation at low frequency implies that only high rockfill dams should be constructed in these areas," Dr Srivastava explained.

What makes the Himalayan region quake-prone is the North and North-eastern movement of the Indian plate at the rate of about 5 cm per year and its collision with the Eurasian plate which is relatively stationary. The movement gives rise to accumulation of stress and as it exceeds the bearing capacity of the rocks, quakes occur due to rock-slips.

The Khandwa region in Madhya Pradesh, which is located in the safe seismic area (zone II), experienced 1000 quakes in the last quarter of 1998.

The worst quakes in the recent past, Latur and Jabalpur, fall in the seismologically safe zones. While Latur has been placed in Zone III, Jabalpur has been marked under Zone I.

The quakes in western Uttar Pradesh were as a result of Muradabad fault which lies in the south of the Himalayan plate. An earthquake, measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, occurred in 1966 which made the seismologists aware of this fault."

The fault falls in the highly susceptible region in the seismological map. The region falls in the Zone IV category and it encompasses Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. Most parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, the North-East, Kutch and the Andaman Islands fall in the Zone V category.

Quake claims three lives in region
From Tribune Reporters and agencies

JALANDHAR, March 29 (UNI) — At least two labourers died when a portion of a four-storeyed building under construction at nearby Nakodar town collapsed in the wee hours today, police sources said here.

Use of both substandard material in construction and the tremor which shook parts of the northern region were reported to be the cause of the collapse, which came to public and police notice this morning, the sources said.

Tehsildar Kamaljit Singh Mahi and the police were supervising rescue operations to find out if any more labourers were still trapped in the building. Work on removing the debris of steel and concrete was in progress when the reports last came in.

AMBALA: The earthquake claimed one life in the cantonment here.

Sunil Kumar Arora, a shopkeeper, suffered a heart attack due to shock resulting from the earthquake.

The earthquake shook buildings and rattled windows.

Cracks appeared in at least two buildings in Ambala city following the tremors, officials sources said.

A small portion of an old abandoned four-storeyed building collapsed as the tremors shook the area.

A report said the quake also caused cracks in a few buildings in Sonepat town.

Reports of tremors were also reported from towns near Sonepat, including Gohana, Kharkhauda and Ganaur.

SHIMLA: A few buildings in Shimla and Sirmaur district developed cracks as the earthquake rocked the entire Himachal Pradesh, official sources said.

The tremors lasted for more than 50 seconds and were experienced again after half-an-hour.

SRINAGAR: An earthquake of mild intensity shook Srinagar and adjoining areas early on Monday morning.

The severely affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir included Lower Chamoli, Upper Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Papaniyana.

Chamoli Jail collapsed due to the jolts. Five prisoners, including a woman, and some Nepali labourers were believed to be trapped under the debris.

The ITBP and the Army have been pressed into service to carry out the rescue operations, sources added.