Three persons were killed and at least 69 others, including 43 school children, were injured while several buildings developed cracks in an earthquake that rocked West Bengal along with the eastern region today.

A man, identified as Pannya Singha Roy, died when a wall collapsed on him when he was working in his garden at Noapara in Ambari area of Jalpaiguri district, District Magistrate Pritha Sarkar said.

At least 66 people were injured in three places of Malda district as portions of the roof collapsed in two school buildings and a bank, police said.

Thirty students were injured at BSB High School at Bhado when the roof collapsed following the quake.

The students were admitted to various primary health centres and Malda Medical College Hospital, police said.

Roof collapse at Naimouja High School at Sujapur left 10 students, including three girls, injured.

Headmaster of the school, who fell sick after hearing the news, had to be hospitalised along with the students, police said.

Yet another 25 people were injured when portions of a roof collapsed at a nationalised bank branch at Bangitola in Malda district.

Police said the injured included both customers and bank employees.

Cracks developed in several buildings of Siliguri in Darjeeling district, Telipara in Jalpaiguri district and various places of Malda district due to the quake, official sources said.

The water of the river Korola, passing through Jalpaiguri town, rose in waves to a considerable height during the quake.

The area suffered an aftershock around noon, Gopinath Raha, in-charge of Sikkim Meteorological Department said.

The temblor also shook Kolkata where hundreds of people ran out of their homes and offices and assembled on the streets.

It was also experienced in Purulia, Bankura, Burdwan, East Midnapore and Nadia districts, reports from there said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the state government was monitoring the situation closely and urged people to stay calm.

“My prayers with the people of Nepal and across India after the massive earthquake. Hope everyone is safe. Stay calm,” she tweeted.

EARTHQUAKES-TIMELINE
Deadliest earthquakes of the past 30 years

Below is a list of some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes in the past 30 years.

— August 11, 2012: Twin earthquakes with a magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 leave 306 dead and more than 3,000 injured near the Iranian city of Tabriz.

— March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.

— October 23, 2011: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocks eastern Turkey, leaving more than 600 dead and at least 4,150 injured.

— January 12, 2010: Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 dead.

— April 14, 2010: A 6.9-magnitude quake hits Yushu county in northwest China’s Qinghai province leaving 3,000 people dead and missing.

— May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China’s southwest province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

— May 27, 2006: A powerful quake in Indonesia’s Yogyakarta region kills 6,000 and leaves 1.5 million homeless.

— October 8, 2005: An earthquake of 7.6 kills more than 75,000 people, the vast majority of them in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Some 3.5 million are displaced.

— March 28, 2005: An earthquake on Indonesia’s Nias island off Sumatra leaves 900 dead.

— December 26, 2004: A massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra island triggers a tsunami which kills 220,000 in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

— December 26, 2003: A quake measuring 6.7 hits the Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 31,884 people and injuring 18,000.

— January 26, 2001: A massive 7.7 earthquake hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 25,000 people and injuring 166,000.

— September 30, 1993: A 6.3-magnitude quake hits the western Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 7,601.

— October 20, 1991: A quake measuring 6.6 hits the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh state in India, killing 768.

— August 20, 1988: A magnitude 6.8 quake hits eastern Nepal, killing 721 people in Nepal and at least 277 in the neighbouring Indian state of Bihar.

— July 28, 1976: A magnitude 7.8 quake hits Tangshan, in north China’s Hebei province. Officials said 242,000 people died, although some western sources said the toll was higher.

— January 15, 1934: Magnitude 8.1 quake hits eastern Nepal and Bihar state in neighbouring India killing 10,700 people.

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