Sikkim Earthquake 2011: Update as of 9:00 pm Monday
Here are some latest updates on the relief work undertaken by the government following the Sikkim earthquake on Sunday, which killed more than 80 and injured 200 so far.
• NH 55 from Bagdogra to Darjeeling has now been restored. • Highway from Gangtok to Nathu La is expected to be cleared by 6 PM tomorrow.
• 10 doctors have been airlifted to Chungthang in North Sikkim and medicines are being airlifted to Bagdogra from where they will be sent to Chungthang
• 20 Medical detachments have been deployed by army.
• The optical fiber link to Gangtok which had been disrupted is now restored.
• 2 more deaths in West Bengal. The death toll in the state has risen from 5 to 7.
Update As of 6 pm on Monday
The states of Sikkim, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram were affected in this earthquake.
Ø Meetings of National Crisis Management Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary were held at 1930 hrs on 18.9.2011 and 1000 hrs today (i.e. 19.9.2011) to review the situation caused by earth quake.
STATUS OF DAMAGE:
Ø Information received from Govt of Sikkim, there are 32 deaths (excluding 2 from the army), 75 people reported to be injured, 6 persons are reported to be still trapped. Latest report also indicate 01 Junior Engineer of Border Road Organization has died on way to land slide area.
Ø Information from State Govt. of Bihar 02 death, West Bengal 07 death & 29 injured while one person reported to be injured in Assam.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY STATE GOVT SIKKIM
Ø State Government of Sikkim has announced ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lacs per deceased, Rs. 50,000/- for major injuries and Rs. 30,000 for minor injuries.
Ø Teams have been deployed to all 04 districts to assess damage. Medical aid, supply of drinking water and essential commodities not affected. Supplementary assistance being organized. Sufficient stock diesel, Petrol and Kerosene available.
Ø The arrangement for airdropping of food packets tied up with the State Govt of West Bengal and is being done from Siliguri. Purnia in Bihar also identified as back up for food dropping. The State Govt of West Bengal has been told to provide all help to the Sikkim Government.
Ø The bad weather, heavy rain, low visibility affecting the air support/air efforts in the affected areas.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY GOVT. OF INDIA
NDRF
Ø 05 Teams of NDRF consisting of 203 personnel along with necessary rescue equipments have been deployed Ex-Delhi and reached Bagdogra by 0308 hrs on 19.09.2011.
Ø Another 05 Teams of NDRF consisting of 200 personnel along with necessary rescue equipments have been deployed Ex-Kolkata, who have already reached Bagdogra.
Ø 05 teams have proceeded from Siliguri to Gangtok.
ITBP
Ø A strength of 712 personnel of ITBP are already engaged in rescue and relief operation in Sikkim.
Food Supply
Ø Air dropping of food packets from Siliguri organised for Mangan Distt.
MEDICAL AID
Ø A medical team comprising of 20 Doctors (Surgeon –04, Orthopaedician – 07, Anaesthesian – 05, Neuro-Surgeon -02 and medicine -02 ) left for Sikkim from Ex-Delhi and reached Bagdogra at 0430 hrs on 19.09.2011. Further they are held at Bagdogra (circuit house) due to Land Slide causing road blockage at various places in the highway.
Ø A team of 10 doctors have left for Mangan Districts.
Ø 4.5 tonnes of medicines/other supplies being dispatched
STATUS OF ROAD
Ø National Highway No.31-A from Siliguri to Gangtok has been opened.
Ø 120 columns of army including 10 engineering columns have been deployed in restoration / relief work.
Ø The road between Gangtok and Changthang (16 land slides) and Gangtok and Nathula (12 land slides) are likely to take time.
Ø Blockades at National Highway No. 55 in West Bengal connecting Darjeeling to Siliguri (2 land slides) being removed.
TELECOMMUNICATION
Ø In the telecommunication sector, out of the 489 Mobile towers, 216 are non-functional. Land line connections and Microwave links are working. The service providers affected are Vodafone 60%, Reliance 46%, Idea 10%, Aircel-100%, Airtel-10% and BSNL-26%.
POWER
Ø Power situation has improved in the meanwhile. All the major power generating stations i.e. Teestha stage-V, Rangit, Chukha and Ramman with a total capacity of 845 MW have been made operational. 220 KV lines have been fully restored. Power supply (20 MW) to Gangtok is available. However, 66 KV lines from Gangtok to Tadong is yet to be restored for which M/Power has given instructions to the Powergrid personnel to help the State Electricity Board in the restoration work.
Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been advised to open community shelters and feeding centres in inaccessible pockets. At present, 1500 persons have taken shelter in Army camps and 10 langers are being run to feed them.
Chief Secretary, West Bengal has been advised to keep enough quantity of packets of dry foods, matchboxes, candle and medicines, ready at the Siliguri for air dropping.
Necessary instructions have been issued to the concerned for prioritization of traffic on National Highway 31A as soon as it opens by facilitating the movement of relief and response teams.
MHA officials along with NDMA and NDRF personnel have been working round the clock since the time of occurrence of earthquake to mobilize and facilitate response teams. The situation is being closely monitored and every possible assistance is being extended to the State Government.
Update as of 4 pm on Monday:
The latest human casualties reported in Sikkim are 22, in addition to death of 2 Army personnel, 6 persons are reported to be still trapped. So far, 75 people have been hospitalized while 5 have been discharged. Several hundred public buildings and large number of private houses have suffered damage, The Secretariat building at Gangtok is also badly affected. The Sikkim government has announced ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh for each death, Rs 50,000 for major injury and Rs 30,000 for cases of minor injury.
– The National Highway-31A has suffered landslides at over 21 places, over a cumulative length of 700 meters. It was reported by Director General, Border Road Organization and Chief Secretary, Sikkim that the road could be opened for traffic by 4.00 p.m. today. The NDRF personnel who are stranded at Bagdogra will be able to reach Sikkim once the road is opened for traffic. (At 1.30 p.m. information has been received that NH-31A is functional till Singtam, 29 km short of Gangtok).
– The damage of road from Gangtok to Nathula (61 kms) is yet to be assessed fully. The first 24 kms of road has been surveyed so far showing 12 landslides and severe damage to the road-formation over a cumulative stretch of 90 meters. Restoration of this road is unlikely to take place immediately, as indicated by DG, BRO.
– The third important road in Sikkim which is affected badly is North Sikkim Highway from Gangtok to Chungthang (95 kms). About 400 meters of road-formation has been damaged due to 16 landslides. Restoration of this road too is likely to take some time.
– The loss of life reported in Darjeeling area by Chief Secretary, West Bengal is 5. The Darjeeling-Siliguri road has been blocked by 2 landslides, Repair work has started and the road is likely to be opened for traffic today itself.
– In Bihar, 2 persons are reported to have died; one due to earthquake related stampede (Darbhanga) and the other due to collapse of wall (Nalanda). The situation does not appear to be alarming.
– As far as the Central agencies are concerned, restoration work of communication has started with full swing. The Border Road Organization, which has lost one Junior Engineer, is at work with maximum manpower and equipment to clear the landslides and restore communication at various points at NH-31A. Restoration work of Siliguri-Darjeeling road is going to be completed by 3.00 p.m. today. 120 columns of Army including 10 engineering columns have also been deployed in restoration/relief work.
– Power situation has improved in the meanwhile. All the major power generating stations i.e. Teesta Stage-V, Rangit, Chukha, and Ramman with a total capacity of 845 MW have been made operational. 220 KV lines have been fully restored. Power supply (20 MW) to Gangtok is available. However, 66 KV line from Gangtok to Tadong is yet to be restored, which is to be done by the State Electricity Board. M/o Power has given instructions to the Power Grid personnel to help the State Electricity Board in the restoration work.
– As regard telecommunication network, landlines have been fully restored. Out of 489 mobile towers / BTSs, 273 are functioning. The damage to the remaining 216 mobile towers is reported to be to the extent of 10-100%. M/o Telecommunication has indicated requirement over 20,000 litres of diesel daily to keep the BTSs operational. M/o Petroleum has been directed to make diesel available to the service providers on priority basis.
– A team of 9 doctors and 10 paramedics despatched from Delhi by M/o Health & Family Welfare has already reached Siliguri. The team will proceed to Gangtok once the Siliguri-Darjeeling road is restored. Chief Secretary, Sikkim has, however, informed that there is no urgency of dispatching medical teams.
– Nine NDRF teams were despatched yesterday. They have already reached Bagdogra over the night. They will proceed to Gangtok as soon as the road communication is restored. Chief Secretaries of West Bengal and Sikkim have been advised to take particular care to regulate and prioritize the movement of traffic on the road to avoid blockade due to sudden rush of vehicles, and to ensure that essential manpower, equipment and supplies required for relief and rescue work is able to get through first.
– Though Sikkim has reported no shortage of essential commodities, ministries of Food and Consumer Affairs, and Petroleum & Natural Gas have been asked to preposition enough quantity of essential commodities particularly diesel and LPG, and despatch the same to affected areas, as soon as the roads are opened. Kerosene stock is available in Sikkim for 36 days, while availability of LPG is limited to 4 days.
– Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been advised to open community shelters and feeding centres in inaccessible pockets. At present, 1500 persons have taken shelter in Army camps and 10 langars are being run to feed them. Chief Secretary, West Bengal has been advised to keep enough quantity of packets of dry foods, matchboxes, candle and medicine, ready at Siliguri for air-dropping. Presently, air dropping of food packets is not possible because of adverse weather conditions/heavy rains in and around Gangtok, But Defence Secretary has been advised to drop some packets quickly, weather permitting. The weather in Sikkim continues to be inclement. As a result, sorties by helicopters have not been possible so far today. However, helicopters, including an MN-17 for air-dropping of supplies, are in readiness.
– Chief Secretary, Sikkim has been asked to designate one officer who would coordinate with the media. Similarly, media briefing/releases will be coordinated in Delhi by Ministry of Home Affairs.
– The process to assess the damage due to earthquake is continuing. Another meeting of National Crisis Management Committee under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary is scheduled to be held at 7.30 p.m. today.
– Union housing minister Kumari Selja has offered the Sikkim Government and other State Governments assistance in re-construction and re-building of the damaged houses and said HUDCO will take up construction of economically weaker section houses for the affected families out of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund. These houses would be built with the earth quake resistant features. The Minister has also offered low interest HUDCO loan assistance to the State Governments for re-construction of public assets.
– The Armed Forces have mobilized rescue and relief operation on a war footing. Two MI-17 helicopters of the IAF carried relief material and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to Lachen and Mangan, the interior regions of North Sikkim. Over 5,000 army personnel, including ten columns of army engineers each comprising 15-20 personnel, were pressed into rescue operations immediately after the first tremors were felt at 1811 hours yesterday. Troops stationed in the area have provided shelter to over 1,500 people including 1,000 civilians at Gangtok and 200 civilians at Darjeeling.
– Within hours after the earthquake, two C-130J Hercules Aircraft took to the skies last night with 203 NDRF personnel, sniffer dogs, search and rescue teams, medical personnel and carrying 9 tonnes of relief materials including tents, medicines and food stocks, from Air Force Station Hindon to Bagdogra. A team of 20 doctors from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) carrying 200 kg of essential medical supplies flew to Bagdogra from New Delhi this afternoon on board an IAF Avro aircraft. An MI-17 helicopter with medical team and relief equipment also took off from Bagdogra for Gangtok. Another two Cheetah helicopters from Bagdogra carried out aerial recce missions to assess the damage caused by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicentre on Indo-Nepal border in Sikkim.
– More men and material are being pressed into rescue and relief operations. One IL-76 with 100 volunteers of No.2 NDRF battalion and 8 tonnes of material flew from Chandigarh to Bagdogra this morning. It will come back and make another sortie tonight. To augment the relief operations, two AN-32 aircraft flew from Delhi to Bagdogra early today. Relief efforts are expected to pick momentum after the personnel of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) toiled throughout the night to restore traffic on the National Highway No.31 this afternoon.
– Four ALH and Five Cheetah Helicopters are on standby at Sukna Military Station. Two Cheetah and one MI-17 Helicopters also on standby at Bagdogra Airbase. Besides this two Mi-17 Helicopters are kept on standby at Guwahati. They will be operational once the weather improves.
– The Armed Forces have also suffered casualties due to the tremors last evening. Two Army personnel died near Zima, North Sikkim while a Junior Engineer of BRO was reported killed during rescue operation.
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