By Oinam Sunil & K Sarojkumar Sharma | TNN From Times of India

RANCHI/IMPHAL/GUWAHATI: At least eight persons were killed and 100 injured in Manipur when a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit northeastern India early Monday morning at around 4:36 am.

There is large scale damage in Imphal with many houses reporting huge cracks. Walls of many building have also collapsed.

According to the Indian Meteorological department, the epicentre was in Tamenglong district, in Manipur and state government officials said the epicentre was at Noney village in Tamenglong around 35 kms from Imphal.
Principal Secretary Suresh Babu told TOI that the government is assessing the situation and providing all help to the victims.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that an NDRF team has been instructed to move from Guwahati to the areas affected by the earthquake. “Spoke to Rajnath ji, who is in Assam, on the situation arising due to the earthquake & asked him to oversee the situation,” PM Modi tweeted.

The Prime Minister’s office also tweeted saying PM Modi is continuously monitoring the situation in the Northeast. “He spoke to Arunachal Pradesh CM Shri Nabam Tuki,” the office tweeted.

Building collapsed in Imphal after #earthquake hit the region

Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Guwahati, also felt the earthquake in the country’s highest Zone V earthquake risk zone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about his presence and asked him to oversee the situation.

The states from where tremors have been reported are Assam, Manipur, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. A few people on social networks said they’ve seen cracks appearing in many buildings.
Imphal’s famous women’s market building has been damaged. Works minister Ratan Khumujam today assessed the situation.

“I felt someone was waking me up. When I woke up, I felt it was a strong tremor,” Sudhir Kumar a resident of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand said. The officials in the state’s disaster management department did not receive phone calls. In Guwahati people were seen running out their homes towards open spaces.
Reports from Imphal say that some buildings were badly damaged even as people rushed out from their houses in the quake-hit areas. Several household objects fell and broke as the ground shook for more than a minute, says Shivachandra Singh, a Imphal resident.

The compound wall of Congress MLA N Biren Singh’s official residence at Kangla pat collapsed. Singh told TOI that the government is making an assessment of the damages.

For more on this story and video go to: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Eight-dead-100-injured-after-massive-earthquake-jolts-northeastern-India/articleshow/50432467.cms