Earthquake hits India and Nepal, at least 19 deaths

A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.8 on Sunday affected the state of Sikkim in northeastern India, said the Institute of Geophysics of the United States (USGS). The quake, which occurred at 18:10 local , located 60 km northwest of the state capital, Gangtok, near the border with Nepal.According information from the broadcaster NDTV, the earthquake left at least 60 injured and 19 deaths: seven in the Indian state of Sikkim, two deaths in the Indian state of Bihar and four in the Indian state of West Bengal and five in Nepal. three people died in the British Embassy in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu.Authorities believe the numbers may increase in the coming hours, as rescue efforts for victims in the region are realized. The quake, which was followed by replicas of 6.1 and 5.3 degrees, caused many landslides, damaged many buildings in the region and was felt in Bangladesh and the Indian capital, New Delhi. In Gangtok, the fixed-line phones fell from Gangtok and mobile phone networks were quickly saturated.

According to the Guardian, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered troops and called the National Authority for Disaster eeping for an emergency meeting. The Indian Air Force sent five planes to assist in the rescue area. Sikkim, wedged in the Himalayas, is the least populous state in India."It's too early to calculate the damages. We are trying to contact the government of Sikkim to see if they need our help," told Reuters the secretary of the Disaster Management Authority National Saunail Sujata, Sujata Saunail.