North Sikkim bears the brunt of the quake

What remains of the Believer’s Church at Ambithang, Mangan, where Nirmala Tamang was killed on Sunday evening.

WANGCHUK BHUTIA

MANGAN, 19 Sept:  North district, where the Sunday earthquake had its epicentre took the brunt of temblor and even though the most thinly populated of all districts, posted the highest casualty figures with 24 dead in Sikkim’s toll of 36.

Most of the damage and casualties are centred at Chungthang, Saffo, Mangan, Dzongu and Dikchu.  Around 80% of houses have reported damage of varying degrees and many families have been displaced. 

At Mangan, 28-year-old Nirmala Tamang, wife of BB Tamang, was killed when the Believer’s Church at Ambithang Mangan collapsed in the earthquake [see accompanying photo]. Her 13 yrs old sister was grievously injured. A house below the church belonging to Prem Rai was also damaged and the daughter of the house, Naina Rai, injured.

At Saffo in Dzongu, two vehicles returning from Bishwakarma statue emersion were caught in a landslide. Seven dead bodies have been recovered thus far and more are feared dead in the mishap.

At Toong Borfok, near Ring Khola in Lingdong Borfok GPU, two people are reportedly killed by a landslide.

At Bop Chungthang, one house has been damaged claiming one life - Phurba Lepcha - whereas in Pegong Chungthang, the slide damaged the ITBP camp there and reportedly killed two ITBP personnel.

One person was killed at Damang at Lachung by a landslide triggered by the earthquake. The Police Station at Lachung also suffered damages, it is informed.

Meanwhile, the Ringem Gumpa and District hospital at Mangan have reported major damage and several other buildings, including the school building of North Sikkim Academy, have also reported damage. The area MLA, TW Lepcha, visited the affected areas which could be accessed and met with the victims.

It is further informed that a meeting was held today here at North District Headquarter among SP North, BK Tamang, ADC North, Prabhakar Verma, DFO North, Mangan Nagar Panchayats, Disaster Management Cell etc. to discuss the shifting of victims to safer locations and other immediate measures.

At the time of filing of this report, 27 people were admitted with injuries in the Mangan District hospital from different parts of the district.

Traffic to North Sikkim has also been severely compromised with all routes disrupted. Roads to Mangan [from Gangtok], Chungthang, Saffo-Shipgyer, Mangan-Singtam, Dikchu-Gangtok, Rakdong etc were blocked by several landslides. The Dikchu-Mangan road was however restored by the evening after BRO undertook emergency repairs at seven spots.

At Dikchu, a three-storied building belonging to Passang Thendup Kazi collapsed due to the earthquake. Although everything inside the house was lost, the residents managed to flee in time and no one was injured in the mishap. Along the owner, all the tenants - Jeewan Bardewa, Moti Rawat, Dhaniram Mangar and Bhakta Bahadur Karki – also lost all their belongings to the quake.

Several houses and land at Raley, Samdong, Tintek, Upper Rakdong, Marchak, Aap Dara, Jang and other parts of the area suffered damages. The Dikchu New Market in North Sikkim also suffered damages and remain in danger.

Local NGO, Dikchu Youth Welfare Association, along with Dikchu Bazaar Committee and SMTWA, Dikchu-branch, extended assistance to the victim families and have shifted them to safer locations and are also operating an open kitchen in town.

BDO Tintek, Tenzing Dorjee Denzongpa, along with the panchayats and zilla members of different GPUs visited the spot and accessed the scale of damage.