Tremor rocks Siliguri, parts of North Bengal

A tremor was felt in some areas of Siliguri and other parts of North Bengal early on Monday.

The quake, which recorded a magnitude of 5.6 on Richter scale, was also felt in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. No casualties have been reported due to the quake so far.

The epicentre of the quake was in Nepal, at Ramchhap area of Solukhumbu district – which is 150 km away from the capital Kathmandu.

The tremor was of moderate intensity and did not cause much damage.

According to the National Centre for Seismology, a unit of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the quake occurred at 5.05am at a depth of 10km.

Mount Everest is located in the northern part of Solukhumbu district, within the Sagarmatha National Park.

The quake was the 475th aftershock – with a magnitude of 4 or above – since the devastating April 2015 temblor in the quake-prone Himalayan country.

In North Bengal, some people came out on the roads from their households. Some vegetable and fish traders, who were on their way to the markets early in the day, felt the jerk more than others.

“I was peddling my bicycle to reach the nearby market when I felt the tremor. It was almost at the 

crack of dawn when I felt the earthquake. I panicked and stopped peddling and stood still on the road,” said Nishikanta Pal, a fish trader in Siliguri.

The number of morning walkers in the roads of Siliguri has already declined due to the onset of winter. Some of them felt the quake as well on Monday.

“I felt that the road was trembling. I called up my wife and she also told me about experiencing the same,” said Rabin Roy, a local resident.

It may be recalled that Kolkata experienced aftershocks of an earthquake on August 23 this year. A series of light tremors were felt, forcing civilians and office goers to rush out of their offices to safety.

Many feared that the city might face the same catastrophic consequences as it did during previous natural disasters that occurred a few years ago.