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Braving cold and pouring rain, Frightened residents spent the night outside their homes in the areas rocked by yesterday's quake in Sikkim and West Bengal.
Roads were torn up, buildings cracked, phone towers and electricity posts toppled in the 6.8 magnitude quake which triggered such a panic that an official said injured people refused to get themselves admitted at Gangtok's STNM Hospital out of fear after its walls developed several cracks.
Several tourists from West Bengal were stranded in Gangtok, Namchi and Kumgon in Sikkim with most of the connecting roads severely damaged, cracked open and blocked due to landslides.
Shelters were provided by authorities to the affected people rendered homeless while the Army opened kitchens and served food to around 2,000 people in and around Gangtok.
Schools, colleges and government offices were closed in the quake-hit areas today and only a few shops remained open.
People in the hill town of Darjeeling in West Bengal and several towns in Sikkim left the main doors of their homes open fearing aftershocks.
"We were all ready to take refuge in the open should there be more quakes ... It was scary as there was total darkness in the absence of electricity in many areas," Angshuman Talukdar, a resident of Darjeeling, told PTI.
In many areas, power returned at around 10.30 pm, but a large number of people preferred to brave the cold and pouring rains instead of returning to their homes. PTI
Roads were torn up, buildings cracked, phone towers and electricity posts toppled in the 6.8 magnitude quake which triggered such a panic that an official said injured people refused to get themselves admitted at Gangtok's STNM Hospital out of fear after its walls developed several cracks.
Several tourists from West Bengal were stranded in Gangtok, Namchi and Kumgon in Sikkim with most of the connecting roads severely damaged, cracked open and blocked due to landslides.
Shelters were provided by authorities to the affected people rendered homeless while the Army opened kitchens and served food to around 2,000 people in and around Gangtok.
Schools, colleges and government offices were closed in the quake-hit areas today and only a few shops remained open.
People in the hill town of Darjeeling in West Bengal and several towns in Sikkim left the main doors of their homes open fearing aftershocks.
"We were all ready to take refuge in the open should there be more quakes ... It was scary as there was total darkness in the absence of electricity in many areas," Angshuman Talukdar, a resident of Darjeeling, told PTI.
In many areas, power returned at around 10.30 pm, but a large number of people preferred to brave the cold and pouring rains instead of returning to their homes. PTI
