News Digest

Several deaths after strong 6.8 quake hits near India-Myanmar border

At least five people have been killed and 100 others injured after an earthquake measuring 6.8 struck in eastern India, sending people running from their homes and knocking out power supplies. The US Geological Survey said the quake was 57km (35 miles) deep and struck 29km (18 miles) west of the northeastern city of Imphal before dawn. It initially reported it had struck inside Myanmar. Police in the city, which is the capital of Manipur state, said the deaths occurred as walls, staircases and roofs in some buildings collapsed.

It was the biggest earthquake we’ve felt in Imphal.

Disaster response worker Kanarjit Kangujam

Apem Arthur, an Imphal resident, said: “The ground swayed for almost a minute, jolting people awake in their homes." People panicked and rushed out of their homes in Gauhati, the capital of neighbouring Assam state, as they felt massive shaking at least twice within a minute. People in Bangladesh and Nepal also ran from their homes, and the earthquake was felt as far away as Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, 1,176km (730 miles) away to the south.