Samdrup Jhonkhar (Bhutan), Sep 22 (IANS) Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchen Jigme Yoser Thinley will be among those joining a special prayer ceremony led by senior Buddhist monks Tuesday after an earthquake the day before claimed 12 lives and left a trail of destruction in this Himalayan nation.
A senior Bhutanese government official said the council of ministers led by the prime minister will join a mass prayer at a monastery in the capital Thimphu. The ritual, to prevent future tragedies in the country, will be conducted by high Buddhist priests.
Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk was also briefed about the casualties and the damage to properties due to the 6.3 magnitude tremor Monday afternoon.
Rescue teams Tuesday reported large scale devastation in six eastern districts of Bhutan – the worst hit being Mongar, Trashigang and Samdrup Jhonkhar.
‘Five deaths were reported from Mongar, including three women and a two-year-old child and three in Trashigang district. Four Indian workers in Samdrup Jhonkhar died after boulders fell on them while they were working on a road construction site,’ U. Tenzing, a Bhutanese disaster management department official, said.
Bhutan’s state-run newspaper Kuensel reported that more than 100 houses were damaged. Besides, there was destruction to several schools, offices and monasteries.
Thousands of people in the eastern districts spent the night out in the open after the quake that damaged homes, government offices and historical monuments, and blocked roads, the Kuensel report said.
‘Rescue teams have managed to reach interior areas and are assessing the damage. They are also looking for anyone who might require medical support or could be trapped,’ T.M. Dorji, a government official, said.
About 20 people are reported to be admitted to various hospitals with minor to serious injuries.
‘There is panic among residents with people apprehending more tremors. People are still in a state of shock,’ said Kesang Wangchuk, a local businessman in Samdrup Jhonkhar.
‘Some of the monasteries were damaged and monks and other people simply fled the worship places out of fear,’ said T. Dorji, a resident of Trashigang district in eastern Bhutan.
‘There are reports of landslides in some areas and power and telecommunications networks have been disrupted in eastern districts of Bhutan,’ Bhutan’s Home Minister Lyonpo Minjur Dorji said.
The quake sent boulders down hillsides in eastern Bhutan, blocking roads to remote hilly regions.
Meanwhile, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook India’s northeast and Myanmar early Tuesday.
According to the Indian meteorological department, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake rocked parts of India’s northeast at 1.08 a.m. on Tuesday with the epicentre located along Myanmar.
The tremor was experienced in India’s northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur, besides Myanmar.
This is the second quake to have rocked the region in less than 12 hours — after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake at 2.23 p.m. on Monday rocked Bhutan and India’s northeast.
‘There are no immediate reports of any damage to lives and properties in Tuesday’s earthquake, although people panicked and ran out of their homes with Monday’s high intensity quake still fresh in their minds,’ said a disaster management official.
Strong tremors lasting up to 20 seconds Monday were experienced in Guwahati, the main city of Assam, where nervous residents ran into the streets.
Cracks appeared in several buildings in the city but there was no serious damage, witnesses said.
Tuesday’s tremor is the sixth since Aug 11 to have hit India’s northeastern region.
