An earthquake of magnitude 3.6 on the Richter scale hit West Bengal's Alipurduar, said the National Center for Seismology. The quake hit the region at 10:51 am and there were no immediate reports of any damage, reported ANI. This comes within a week after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal killing 153 people and left a total of 266 others injured.
The tremors of the quake with epicentre in Jajarkot, around 500 kilometres from Kathmandu, were felt as far as New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttarakhand jolting people in these regions out of their homes in panic on Sunday night.
The Friday quake was the most catastrophic in the Himalayan nation since the 2015 earthquake, which killed over 9,000 people and wounded over 22,000 more. Around 159 aftershocks were reported following the quake, according to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre.
India sent two truck-loads of emergency relief materials along with a team of security persons to the Himalayan nation.
The Friday quake was ensued with several aftershocks in which 16 people were injured. The earthquake, which mainly hit Jajarkot and Rukum West districts in western Nepal, also damaged around 8,000 houses, both public and private, according to officials.
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President Ramchandra Paudel visited Jajarkot, the worst affected district and met with earthquake survivors who appealed for medical treatment, food, and shelter for the injured.
In India, it was the second quake within a month after a 3.1 magnitude tremor rippled through Delhi-NCR with its epicentre located 9 kilometers east of Faridabad.
Proximity to the Himalayas makes Delhi-NCR and other regions in northern India more prone to earthquakes as it falls under seismic Zone-IV.