Assam: Over 570 structures damaged in quake, injury count surges to 12

GUWAHATI: The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Thursday said the total number of injured people in the state has gone up to 12 and no casualties have been reported in last 24 hours.
“Damage assessment has been completed in 18 districts so far and 428 residential houses/ apartments etc., 148 private and public institutions like school, anganwadi centres, health centres, government buildings, namghar, etc., are reported to have been damaged,” the authority stated.
The damage has been reported from Baska, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Darrang, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hojai, Jorhat, Kamrup Metro, Karbi Anglong, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts. Other infrastructure damage includes one embankment in Baska district, two bridges in Nagaon district, APDCL infrastructure in Sonitpur, Udalguri and Hojai districts.
“Rapid visual screening and assessment is underway in Guwahati city led by professor Jayanta Pathak of Assam Engineering College. Such assessments have also been carried out by a team of trained engineers in other districts,” the ASDMA stated.
On Wednesday, several roads in the region developed wide cracks, affecting traffic movement and in many areas, fissures were seen in fields with water oozing out. Many religious structures, including the Maha Mrityunjaya Temple in Nagaon and several mosques, developed cracks. Landslides occurred in a hillock in tourist spot Bhairabkunda in Udalguri district due to the impact of the tremors.
In Guwahati, the chief minister’s block at the ‘Janata Bhawan’ complex, the state secretariat saw some damage. Healthcare facilities such as Dispur Hospital, Apollo Clinic and Down Town Hospital also suffered damage, hampering services amid the surge in Covid-19 cases.
Several apartments in the city developed cracks due to the tremor. Many people staying in flats in the city passed the ‘horror Wednesday night’ on streets and vacated the flats on Thursday morning. A multi-storied building in Nagaon tilted on an adjacent structure, triggering panic. Dozens of houses, apartment buildings and shopping malls across the state also developed cracks.
The state disaster management authority launched helplines — 1070, 1077, 1079 — to assist people reporting incidents in the aftermath of the tremors, and seek relief.