Gangtok, Sep 19 (IANS) At least 23 dead and 200 injured, cracks in 25 road bridges, mudslides, snapped road links... Sikkim Monday surveyed the horror of the powerful earthquake that originated along the border of the hilly northeastern state.


“So far we have reports of 23 deaths and more than 200 injured. The casualty figures might go up as we are getting reports of large scale damage and destruction, from interior places,” an official at the central control room in capital Gangtok said.

Central government officials put the total casualty figure for the whole of India at 18, but Sikkim's estimates are higher.

"The biggest challenge now is to get the rescue teams to the affected areas with heavy rains lashing the state since the last two days," C.B. Karki, Sikkim Information Minister, told IANS.

"The casualty figure might go up as we are still getting reports of deaths and injuries from remote areas. Telecommunication facilities are down and hence information is hard to come by from the interior areas," the minister said.

The first temblor measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale was felt at 6.10 p.m and an aftershock measuring 6.1 was experienced at 6.20 p.m. The epicentre was located along the Sikkim-Nepal border, 69 km off Sikkim capital Gangtok.

"It's death and destruction in Sikkim now with people still in a state of shock. Most houses in Gangtok have suffered wide cracks, even gaping cracks seen on the main roads," said Arun Gurung, a businessman in Gangtok.

"I saw at least six vehicles damaged, hit by landslides with boulders smashing the vehicles on the highway," said Ravi Lepcha, a teacher in Gangtok.

Road links to Sikkim and the rest of the country remained snapped with the National Highway 31 A, the lifeline to Sikkim, blocked due to landslides at seven different locations.

Twenty-five road bridges on the highway connecting Siliguri in West Bengal to Gangtok developed cracks after the tremors.

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 army, police and paramilitary troopers were deployed in the worst affected northern and eastern Sikkim for rescue and relief operations.

“The first priority is to open the road communication by clearing the mudslides and we hope to do it by this evening. And we have fanned 84 army teams comprising 2,500 soldiers to various parts of the state for rescue and relief operations,” said Lt. Gen. S.S. Narasimhan, corps commander of the Red Horns Division.

There were also reports of cracks in houses and roofs in Assam’s main city of Guwahati, besides lifts collapsing in apartment blocks in the city.

“The apartment where we stay was literally swaying for close to about 50 seconds. We rushed out of our home in panic,” said Anamika Das, a housewife in Guwahati.

"Our lift collapsed and some people were stuck inside during the tremor,” said Arindam Das, a Guwahati resident.

The northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur are considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world.

The region experienced one of the worst earthquakes, measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, in 1897 that claimed over 1,600 lives.