New Delhi—(ENEWSPF)—September 19, 2011. The number of confirmed deaths has risen to 38 following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake and its aftershocks which struck along the border of India and Nepal.
Thirty-one deaths were reported in India with seven others in Nepal, according to each nation’s Home Ministry. More than 90 were injured in India.
According to Kedar Rijal, Kathmandu’s police chief, among the dead are an 8-year-old girl, her father and a third person who died when a wall of the British Embassy collapsed.
A total of three quakes struck the region in rapid succession in a mountainous region. The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the largest quake at 6.8 magnitude, later upgrading it to a 6.9, and the other two at magnitudes 4.8 and 4.6. All three occurred within an hour and 15 minutes. The India Meteorological Department said the quakes were 6.8 magnitude, 5.7 magnitude and 5.3 magnitude. That quake’s epicenter was about 42 miles from the city of Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, and 169 miles east of Kathmandu
The quakes set off landslides, which, along with heavy rains, are blocking roads and hampering rescue efforts. Authorities expressed fear that the death toll and damages could be more than is now known following additional assessments on Monday.
Source: US Geological Survey, CNN news
