Earthquake overview : A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the Himalayan states Nepal and Sikkim (India) 12:40:48 UT (6:11 PM at epicenter). The depth of the hypocenter was at 20.7 km. The earthquake has caused over 100 victims so far and much damage in India, Nepal and Tibet (China). It was also well felt in Bangladesh and some damage has been reported from Bhutan.
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Amongst the many hundreds of 'I Have Felt It' reports we have received, we picked 3 reports telling how 3 different people and their families experienced the earthquake. As we reported earlier, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit Nepal / Sikkim (India) border region, and other nearby countries, killing at least 115 people, causing landslides which blocked the roads and with that the access to the epicenter area, where people got stuck for days without electricity, food and communication lines. Here are their reports as they wrote it. We do thank them for sharing it with us and the entire world community (our reports are consulted by people from almost every country in the world). Also, we are glad that they are well after such an event.
Martam (east Sikkim, India)
"It was an unforgettable and terrifying experience of my life. The shake was intense starting with mild and moving on with solid jerks as if I was in some kind of fun-fiesta ride, where you have some kind of precautionary measures, but here none. The Houses, the trees almost everything was shaking, shivering, swinging and all possible synonyms could be used here. I thought it would stop after few seconds,so I clang to my wife's hand and made her sit beside my consoling her that it will stop but it didn't it continued with it's monstrous venture,making me take sudden decision of running out of the house, which I thought was the best for that particular moment. We ran out of the house, with the shaky legs and almost entire body without thinking whether we would be alive or dead next moment. The tremor continued almost about a minute. As it was on it's spree, the light and all the telephone and mobile connections got cut off, making the situation more worse, where we couldn't even talk to our near and dear ones. I thought I won't be even able to talk to my parents before dying, who stay in Kolkata. After a long duration we managed to send a message to my Dad saying we are fine. But we were not very sure how fine we were, so we spent the entire night outside the house, thinking that, if we get inside and the earthquake hits again then the house which has already suffered a damage wouldn't be able to sustain any more. We are still having sleepless nights for we are not very sure whether it will come back or not. We are just hoping it doesn't come back, for we are not in a situation to bear any more of this kind." Felt report send by r. Trilok Nath Pandey, a teacher in St. Joseph's school from Martam
The video below was captured by Trilok Nath Pandey before the earthquake. The school has been seriously damaged, but we have no pictures or video so far.
Jhapa (eastern Nepal)
I was preparing to cook dinner in darkness as there was no electricity when i felt the movement.I turned back to scold my sis thinking she started playing Skeeping rope again.
But, she wasn't. She was standing behind me scared. That was when I realized its an earthquake. Never experienced it before I didn't know what am I suppose to do. We waited but it got stronger. We went to take cover under door hoping it will stop but it didn't. That's when I decide it's time to evacuate the house. I grabbed a torch, my mobile, shut the gas and candle and rush down stairs. By the time we reach to street shaking had stopped. We did feel aftershakes lasting around 1-2 secs many time in the night.
I am now sure to take precautions and be prepared to face these kind of incidents.
Dhaka (Bangladesh)
We have been taking our evening tea, my wife, two daughters and one of their friend and me, suddenly the table started shaking and the floor waving. First few second, we could not react. However, the wave continued and we became cautious,
I could feel that the building is shaking like a young tree that shaked by gentle breeze. (ER : this is the most poetic description of an earthquake we have heard so far, but this happened in the outer less shaky areas of the earthquake).
My wife took shelter under the main beam of our flat that is in 3rd floor. She wanted to go out but we decided not to rush until shaking stopped. It stopped almost after 70-80 second. A long one but with moderate intensity that would have saved us. Heard people's voice from the streets who ran out from their flats, the area is full of high storied buildings and limited open places. If all the people could come out of their flats and houses, there would be no space to put our steps!
Read also : Nepal, Sikkim, India and Bangladesh "I Have Felt It" reports
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St Joseph school Martam before the earthquake
