North Bengal earthquake triggers fears of a Nepal redux

Hundreds of people in multi-storey buildings in Darjeeling decided to
sleep in the open. In Siliguri, highrise residents have pitched tents on
open ground to spend the night. (AFP photo

TNN, April 28: DARJEELING/ SILIGURI/ MALDA: An earthquake with its epicenter 5km southwest of Mirik in Darjeeling district rattled West Bengal at 6.05pm, triggering panic in the hills and plains of North Bengal where terrified people saw it as a sign that the Nepal tragedy was getting closer home.

Hundreds of people in multi-storey buildings in Darjeeling decided to sleep in the open. In Siliguri, highrise residents have pitched tents on open ground to spend the night.

Measuring 5.1, the quake was moderate, but people panicked because there have never been three earthquakes on three consecutive days in living memory.

"This has never happened before. Since this is an earthquake-prone region, people fear the worst," said Girish Pradhan, a former professor of geology at Darjeeling's Loreto College.

Darjeeling district magistrate Puneet Yadav said there were no casualties or damage to property by Monday's quake, but residents in the hill station told TOI that cracks had formed in many buildings.

A multi-storied shopping complex is said to have tilted a few degrees. The town is now choc-a-bloc with multi-storied structures, which are considered more vulnerable to quakes.

Hundreds of residents have been spending their nights at Chowrasta and Mall since the Nepal quake and hundreds more joined them on Monday. Most people living in multi-storied apartments have moved in with friends in one-storey houses with open courtyards to rush to safety in case of another earthquake.

It's the same in the plains of North Bengal. In Siliguri, tents have come up on parking lots of high-rise apartments on Sevoke Road and in playgrounds. Some buildings of North Bengal Medical College developed visible cracks and students have been staying under tarpaulin sheets since Sunday.

Shiladitya Chaudhury, proprietor of Blue Ginger, a restaurant on Siliguri's Hill Cart Road, said, "We were sitting in the restaurant when we suddenly felt a tremor. Some glasses at the mocktail counter shattered. We ran out. There's a lot of panic and we haven't had a single guest since then."

Tourists had started streaming out of Darjeeling since last Saturday.

"My house in the Chowk area is full of relatives and friends because it's one-storied with a courtyard in front. It's safer to stay in such a house. Everyone fears more aftershocks and a major quake in the coming days," said Nitesh Gazmer, a prominent jeweller of Darjeeling.

Geologists say their fears are not unfounded.

"North Bengal is where the edge of the Indian tectonic plate meets the Eurasian tectonic plate and is constantly pushing at it. This makes the entire region extremely vulnerable. The Indian plate is pushing the Eurasian plate north about two inches a year and this generates a lot of tectonic movement," said Subir Sarkar, a professor of geology at North Bengal University.

Monday's earthquake was generated by a movement of the Indian tectonic plate. It could be felt as far away as Malda, where, too, people were in panic. Private schools across the region declared a holiday on Tuesday.

Buildings also developed cracks in Mirik. GTA spokesperson Suraj Sharma said dwellings of tea garden workers have been damaged. "We're still collecting reports and a clearer picture will emerge only by Tuesday morning," he said. In Kalimpong and Kurseong, too, some structures have developed cracks.