AT LEAST 100 FEARED DEAD IN INDIA EARTHQUAKE
Date: 31-Mar-99
Country: India
NEW DELHI - Indian rescuers searched shattered villages for survivors after a powerful earthquake and aftershocks left at least 100 dead and 300 injured in a remote northern area.
A day after the quake, rescuers said the extent of the damage remained unclear as hundreds of medical and army personnel tried to reach worst-hit Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts in the hilly north of Uttar Pradesh state.
The quake, which was felt across many parts of northern India, western Nepal and southern China early on Monday morning, brought houses tumbling down on thousands of people as they slept.
Star Television said at least 14 villages were buried under rubble. Regional officials said on Monday most houses in the affected areas had been flattened.
Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted officials from in the Pauri Garhwal region as saying the death toll in Chamoli and Rudraprayag was at least 100, and the figure was likely to rise.
The agency said 450 medical and army personnel were on their way to the mountainous area.
Army helicopters flew sorties on Monday to assess the damage, and would carry food packets to quake-hit areas and evacuate the injured on Tuesday, PTI said.
On Monday, workers blasted rocks to clear the way for vehicles after the tremors, the largest measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, sent boulders tumbling down the mountains and blocking roads.
The rescuers who had made it through were listening for the cries of people trapped under rubble in the worst-affected areas.
The most intense tremor came just after midnight when most people were asleep in the region dotted with small towns and villages of largely subsistence hill-farming.
Officials said while the intensity of Monday's tremors were strong and the damage widespread, casualties could be lower because rattling of tin roofs in the disaster area had warned villagers of the danger.
Officials originally feared the final death toll could run into hundreds, but later said this may not prove to be the case as the overall figure was rising relatively slowly.
PTI said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had asked Planning Commission deputy chairman K.C. Pant and Agriculture Minister Som Pal to rush to Chamoli to assess the damage.
