Tremors from 6.9 Myanmar quake felt in Kolkata, Patna & Northeast

Kolkata: An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 struck in northwest Myanmar on Wednesday night causing tremors that were felt in Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati and most parts of eastern India.

The quake which struck around 7,25 pm IST had its epicentre 100 km north-northwest of the city of Monywa at a depth of 135 km, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Jolts were also felt in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, said J L Gautam, Operations Head at the National Centre for Seismology. There was no immediate report of any casualty or major damage.

In West Bengal, the impact was more in the northern districts. Metro Railway service was stopped for five minutes immediately after the quake, Metro spokesperson Indrani Banerjee said.

Tremors were felt in Patna, Begusarai, Vaishali, Kishangaj and other districts of Bihar, Patna MET director A K Sen said.

In neighbouring Jharkhand, there were jolts in Ranchi, Dumka, Godda, Deoghar, Sahibganj and Jamshedpur, geologist Nitish Priyadarshi said.

In Guwahati, some people reported cracks in buildings while there was power outage for some time in Shillong.Tremors were also felt in the northeastern states of Mizoram and Nagaland. All the northeastern states are categorised under zone V in the country's seismological map and are considered highly vulnerable.

In Odisha tremors were felt in capital Bhubaneswar and different places including Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Paradip, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Angul, Balasore and Puri.

Mild tremors were also felt in the national capital region where people rushed out of high-rises and and the Delhi Metro was paused briefly as part of standard operating procedure.

Residents in Myanmar's main city of Yangon panicked after the quake struck, but authorities there said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

An Associated Press journalist who was in a hospital in Yangon at the time of the quake said the seven-story building shook strongly twice, for at least a minute.

Many people in the hospital, including patients, staff and visitors, ran out of the building and began calling their loved ones. The Mohun Bagan team members who are currently touring Myanmar for the AFC Cup are safe, reports said.