Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA) Unit World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for South East Asia (SEARO) Highlights

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1 Emergency and Humanitarian Action (EHA) Unit World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for South East Asia (SEARO) Earthquake in Sikkim, Highlights At least 21 people have been killed, 16 in, and 5 in Nepal and over 100 are injured after an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Ric hter Scale shook Sikkim on Sunday e vening, 18 September Strong tremors were a lso felt in parts of North and East and parts of B angladesh and Nepal, causing widespread panic. The epicenter of the quake is said to be just 64 kilometer North-West of Gangtok. Government organizations are trying their best to carry out rescue and relief operations and are conducting rapid damage assessments in remote areas. WHO SEARO and Country Offices are in close contact with concerned ministries, monitoring the situation and standby to support emergency supplies and teams as needed. Earthquake Report Major Earthquake Time: 6.10 pm; n Standard Time; (12:40 GMT) Richter Scale: 6.8 (USGS) Epicenter: 64 Kilometers North-West of Gangtok Depth: 20+ Kilometers below earth surface After Shocks Three after shocks measuring 5.7, 5.1 and 4.6 Richter Scale were felt after the major Earthquake. Page 1 of 5

2 Incident sit mapping Caption: Map showing the epicenter of the major earthquake Situation Analysis was worst affected with at least 16 people killed. Seven people were reportedly killed in Sikkim, out of which two a t Singtham, one at Dikchu in Ea st Sikkim district and another a t Mangan. At least two people have died in Bihar, while fo ur deaths have been reported from West Bengal. Power supply was disrupted in areas near Sikkim, including Kalimpong of Darjeeling district, and adjoining Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts; the outages were in part blamed on an House damaged due to earthquake in Sikkim, affected electric substation in Siliguri. Water supply was interrupted in Sikkim. National Highway 31, the major highway linking Page 2 of 5

3 Sikkim to the rest of, was damaged. Two buildings of the Indo-China Border Police in the Pegong area of North Sikkim collapsed. Nepal In the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu, the damage of earthquake was less serious. The magnitude of the earthquake was 5.8 Mw in the region. In Kathmandu, three people were killed when a wall at the British Embassy collapsed. Many more people were injured. The effec t of the s hock was more serious in the eastern region of Nepal, which was closer to the epicenter. Sunsari experienced powercuts and the telephone lines died. Two people were killed in the eastern city of Dharan. Car damaged due to earthquake, Kathmandu, Nepal Bhutan Bhutan has not rec eived any casualty reports so fa r, however cracks on wa lls and ceilings of houses have been reported in Wa ngthangkha village, Lango and the town area in Paro. It also received reports of a land s lide right after c rossing the Isuna B ridge from Paro towards Thimphu and falling boulders after crossing Chundzom Bridge. Citizens asked avoid traveling on the Paro- Thimphu highway. Phone lines remains clogged. No damage reporte d from Eas t Bhutan. Fo ur road blocks caused by falling debris are reported on the Chukha - Phuntsholing road. Two homes in Haa report damage with 3-4 people having suffered minor injury. Thimphu Dzong has sustained some cracks in the Utse and one of the four corner towers. Occupants have been moved out to safer parts. Bangladesh The earthquake was strongest felt in northern Bangladesh. The quake was also felt in Dhaka, Sylhet, Faridpur, Bogra and as far as Chittagong. Panicked people rushed out of their homes and offices, but the only damage seems to be tilted and cracked buildings; no casualties were reported. Cell phone lines were also down for a few minutes during the quake. Its epicentre was in 495 kilometre away from Dhaka, 68 kilometres north-west of Gangtok, Sikkim,, 119 km north-west of Shiliguri, West Bengal, according to the US Geological Survey. It was 10 km (6.2 miles) deep. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a destructive tsunami was not generated based on earthquake and historical tsunami data. Few buildings have tilted and developed cracks in capital Dhaka and other part of t he country but there have been no reports of casualties so far. Telecommunication network was jammed and disrupted for a while after earthquake as everybody was trying to know the whereabouts of their near and dear ones at the same time. Page 3 of 5

4 Causalities and Damages Table showing casualties and damages (Number of damage health facilities and homes not confirmed as yet) Affected countries Deaths Injured Cases 16 >100 Nepal 5 Not yet identified Bhutan - Not yet identified Bangladesh - Not yet identified Communication, Transportation and Electricity Power Communication: Partial disruption in communication. Transportation: Local transportation is disrupted is some places. Electric Power: Temporary electricity outage is reported in Sikkim. Response Government: Government is deploying army personnel, helicopters and relie f supplies for the affected areas. Loca l Disaster Management Agency, has dispatched 4 air force plane s to affected areas for emergency rescue and relief operations. WHO: WHO SEARO and Country Offices are in close contact with concern ministries, monitoring the situation and stand by to support emergency supplies and teams as needed. Bangladesh Government: DGHS Control room informed that they didn t receive any causality reports from any part of the country as yet. WHO: WHO EHA program is in close coordination with DGHS and has assu support, whenever needed. red necessary Nepal: Government: Ministry of Home Affai rs (MoHA) organized an emergency meet ing on 19 September. A Central Natural Disaster Relief Committee (CNDRC) meeting was also held on 19 September. Security personnel were mobilised for s earch and resc ue in the most affected Page 4 of 5

5 areas in Ka thmandu, Sankhuwasabha, Dhankuta and Sunsari districts where da mages to lives and properties have been reported. UN: The UNOCHA Humanitarian Support Unit i n Nepal is cl osely working with MoHA. The UN Field Coordination Office (UNFCO) Biratnagar held an emergency meeting with partners to provide updates and collate information received across the region. The Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) established a three member task team to communicate and coordinate the response with the affected. WHO: WHO EHA Unit in Nepal is keeping a close coordination with all the agencies. Sources of Information: Information is gathered from the following sources. This report is for reference only and should not be quoted as factual accuracy can change. 1. WHO Country Offices 2. National, international websites and media Page 5 of 5