Fresh tremors were today felt in various parts of India, including the national capital Delhi, even as the death toll in yesterday's temblor climbed to 57.
The fresh tremors, which had a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter Scale and epicentred in Nepal, were experienced in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for over 30 seconds at 12:42 PM. No casualties or damage to property have been reported in the fresh tremors.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a review meeting to take stock of the relief and rescue operations in the aftermath of the quake. NDRF Chief O P Singh has rushed to Nepal in order to coordinate operations of the Indian rescue forces and local authorities in the quake-hit country. Singh will be joining the seven National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams which have already landed in Kathmandu. In view of the aftershocks, all relief operations headed to Kathmandu have been kept on hold till 4 PM. The tremors, which triggered panic among the people, came a day after a devastating temblor killed over 2,000 people in Nepal. "All movement to Kathmandu kept on hold till 1600 hrs due to fresh tremors in Nepal," Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said.
IndiGo and SpiceJet flights did not land in Kathmandu and returned as ATC personnel at airport there were evacuated following aftershocks. With 18 members of the country's Under-14 girls football team stuck in Nepal following the earthquake, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said they will be evacuated on "priority". The toll in yesterday's disaster, meanwhile, climbed to 57, according to Home Ministry sources. They said another 240 people have been injured in the quake.
Government has announced a compensation of Rs two lakh to the families of those who lost their lives in the powerful quake and stepped up relief efforts in the affected states. Fresh deaths were reported in Bihar due to incidents of wall collapse after the quake.
