Death toll in high intensity quakes rises to 19 in Bihar

The death toll in the two high intensity quakes that rattled Bihar on Tuesday rose to 19 on Wednesday, with two more deaths reported from Vaishali and Siwan districts.

"The death toll in the high intensity quakes that hit Bihar yesterday has gone up to 19. Altogether 82 persons have been injured. We are taking all care to provide relief to the victims and their families," Bihar Disaster Management Department Principal Secretary Vyasji said.

Patna and East Champaran are the worst affected districts with three deaths each. Two persons each died in Madhepura, Purnia, Vaishali, Siwan and Darbhanga districts, while one each lost their lives in Sitamarhi, Khagaria and Sheikhpura districts.

DMD officials said the maximum number of seriously injured persons were in East Champaran, where over 30 people suffered injuries as roofs and walls collapsed. People also suffered injuries while rushing out of buildings.

With the numbers expected to climb further, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "The earthquakes have provided a warning" and appealed to the people to abide by the building construction bylaws as the state was highly prone to earthquakes.

"We will all die for sure, but why commit suicide," Kumar said while inaugurating a two-day Bihar Conference on 'Disaster Risk Reduction'.

"People don't die due to earthquakes, they die due to falling buildings. So many multi-storied buildings are being constructed and no open space is being left. I have warned at least a dozen times, but nobody is willing to listen on these issues.

"Don't be happy that buildings are not coming down in Patna. What if the epicentre were in the plains? Five lakh people will die in Patna if the epicentre of a 6.8 intensity earthquake, like the one that hit Bhuj in Gujarat, is located here," he said.

Kumar said the only satisfactory thing in Tuesday's earthquake was that the panic witnessed in the April 25 temblor was absent this time.

"The need is to be prepared with construction of quake resistant buildings and retrofitting the ones built earlier. People should pay attention while constructing, selling, buying houses. Earthquakes hit Japan on a daily basis, but no harm take place because of the way buildings are built there. We should learn from them," he said.

The Bihar chief minister said the earthquakes have awakened the people on the issue and it was time to check the hazard posed by it by building safe structures.

Assistant Meteorologist of Indian Meteorological Department here, B P Mandal said Bihar experienced 29 temblors since Tuesday afternoon.

"Of the 29 quakes, the highest was of 7.3 magnitude, followed by those of 6.3 and 5.1 magnitude. The rest were of lower intensities," he said.

All government and private schools in the state have been closed for summer vacation from Wednesday at the direction of Kumar, who termed it as a precautionary measure.

The DMD has rushed National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force teams to the affected districts to carry out rescue and relief operations, department officials said.

Altogether 58 persons had died in Bihar in the April 25 quake.