Darjeeling residents spend night in fear of aftershocks

Darjeeling (WB), Sep 19: People in this hill town spent a sleepless night, leaving the doors of their homes open, fearing aftershocks following the powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake which hit the north-eastern parts of the country.

"We were all ready to take refuge in the open should there be more quakes ... It was scary as there was total darkness in the absence of electricity in many areas," Angshuman Talukdar, a resident of the town, said.

In many areas, power returned at around 10.30 pm last night, but a large number of people preferred to brave the cold and pouring rains instead of returning to their homes.

He said many people preferred to stay in government school compounds as a large number of houses have developed cracks.

The staircase of his five-storied apartment building has partially collapsed under the impact of the quake, which struck yesterday.

"We felt several small earthquakes last evening after the big one but none today ... The people are aware that this region is in high seismic zone and are therefore more scared," he said.

Most business and government establishments remained closed here.

PTI