Home India News Sikkim quake toll rises to 40

Sikkim quake toll rises to 40

By IANS,

Gangtok : The toll in the devastating weekend earthquake in Sikkim Tuesday went up to 40 with five more bodies being recovered during overnight operations from separate places, an official said.

Workers recovered the five bodies from various locations in north and east Sikkim, said an official at the central control room in the state capital here.

About 300 people were injured in the 6.8 magnitude quake, with reports from far-flung areas also pouring in.

Road links between the state and the rest of the country, snapped since Sunday due to landslides, were restored. But there are still stretches where mudslides are continuing.

More than 5,000 army police and paramilitary troopers are engaged in a massive rescue and relief operation, with more than half of them deployed in the worst-hit north Sikkim areas.

Authorities opened at least 100 relief camps to provide food and medicines to those whose homes are damaged.

Sunday’s quake rattled large parts of India, from New Delhi to Mizoram. It also shook Nepal, Tibet and Bangladesh.