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6 killed, over 90 injured as strong quake hits the North-East

January 4, 2016

Imphal/Guwahati Jan 4: At least six people were killed and over 90 injured as a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake epicentred in Manipur today hit the northeastern region, causing damage to buildings and triggering panic.

Quake

Manipur bore the brunt of the temblor which struck at 4.35 AM, jolting the people out of their sleep. Many buildings collapsed or developed cracks in Tamenglong, where the earthquake was epicetred at a depth of 17 km. All six deaths were in the state while 70 people were injured.

Army and Air Force have joined the relief operations and two teams of National Disaster Response Force have been rushed to Imphal while one was being sent to Assam where at least 20 people were injured.

Of the six deaths in Manipur, three were killed in Imphal West district, one at Jiribam in Imphal East district and two in Senapati districts, officilas said.

"Damage to a few buildings, residential units and Government offices have been reported, including damage to a six storey building in Imphal," according to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Power supply to Imphal city has been disrupted and some power installations have suffered damage, an official statement said after Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha held a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) this morning.

Several building in Imphal, including the market complex, and roads developed cracks while walls of some school buildings have collapsed, officils said.

Nearly 20 persons were injured in Guwahati and other areas in Assam due to the earthquake, Assam Commissioner and Secretary (Disaster Management) Pramod Kumar Tiwari told PTI. Officials said at least 30 buildings have developed cracks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had spoken to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Assam, and asked him to oversee the situation arising due to the earthquake.

The PM also spoke to Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and other chief ministers in the region to take stock of the situation.

Chief Minister Ibobi Singh said that they were trying to assess the extent of the damage. "The Prime Minister and Home Minister have assured all possible help," he said.

"MHA is actively monitoring the situation after the earthquake in the North East region," Rajnath Singh said.

Army units in Manipur were providing all necessary medical assistance to the injured, defence officials said.

C17 Globemaster & IL76 plane had been kept on standby at the Hindon airbase to respond to any further relief operations as and when needed.

An NDRF team is being sent to Silchar, Assam. A team of engineers from Power Grid Corporation wil be sent to Imphal to assist the state government in restoration of power.

A special team of doctors from Delhi including orthopedics, will be sent to Imphal.

Union Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters in Guwahati that the Centre will provide all necessary help and support to Manipur and other affected states.

Singh said he has spoken to Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who will reach Impahal from Arunachal Pradesh to monitor the situation.

People ran out of their homes looking for safe places in Mizoram capital Aizwal and the quake was also felt in other parts of the state. Lalchuailova, a resident of Aizawl, said that it was the strongest earthquake he had ever experienced during his 50 years.

A 14-year-old boy was injured in Mizoram while trying to find a safe place during the earthquake. He was rushed to the Emergency department of the Aizawl Civil Hospital where he was discharged after being treated, hospital officials said.

Nagaland State Disaster Management Agency said that strong tremors were felt across the state, but there were no reports of any damage.

The official residence of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Cachar district, which is near the epicentre at Tamenglong in Manipur, was damaged.

The Fire Station building in Cachar along with many other installations in the district also developed cracks.

A report from Agartala said the tremor was felt across Tripura today, but there was no report of any casualty or damage to property so far, Programme officer of the state disaster management, Sarat Das said.

Earthquake was also felt in several parts of Jharkhand with people rushing out from homes in Dumka.

People in Ranchi, Giridih, Chatra, Lohardaga districts also experienced mild tremors, officials said.

According to the Regional Seismological Centre, the earthquake is one of the biggest in recent times and was felt in the entire north-east region.

The NDMA earlier said it was co-ordinating with the state governments, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, NDRF, Ministry of Telecom and other concerned Government departments and agencies for search & rescue and relief.

NDMA spoke to the control room/relief commissioners of all the states in the North-East- Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland as well as West Bengal

All states in the north-east are categorized under zone V in the country's Seismological map and considered to be highly vulnerable.

The NCMC meeting was attended by Secretary (Power), Secretary (Telecom), Member, NDMA and DG (Indian Meteorological Department).

The representatives of Ministries Home and Defence also participated in the meeting. Chief Secretary, Manipur participated through the video link.

India

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News Network
August 7,2020

Idukki, Aug 7: Several people lost their lives and dozens of tea estate workers are feared trapped under soil in Kerala’s Munnar after torrential rains triggered a massive landslide on today. 

As many as five bodies have been recovered and rescue workers are fighting inclement weather to remove the debris.

According to rescue workers, four lanes of quarters and a church are buried under mud and around 80 people are feared trapped.

Seven people have been rescued so far and shifted to the hospital.

Sources said a portion of Pettimudi came crashing down on the workers colony with a deafening roar in the wee hours of Friday.

As people were sleeping in the quarters, there was little time to escape.

Further, with the Periyavara bridge being washed away, it became all the more difficult for rescue workers to reach the spot.

The construction of a new temporary Periyavara bridge however, is underway.

The bridge was previously destructed during the deluge of August 2018. Later during the north west monsoons and the south west monsoon of 2019, it suffered damage again.

The present bridge, which got damaged on Thursday after Kannimala river levels rose, was constructed under the leadership of Coir fed.

Although a new concrete bridge has been constructed near the temporary bridge in Periyavara, vehicle  movement has not been possible because the authorities are yet to build its approach via road.

The new bridge is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.75 crore from Devikulam MLA S Rajendran's fund.

The entire area has been cut off from outside world and communication networks have also crashed.

Teams of Fire and Rescue personnel, NDRF, revenue officials, estate workers and police are struggling to conduct rescue operations.

Meanwhile, District collector H Dhineshan said a team of rescue personnel was sent to Pettymudy after he was briefed about the mishap and search operations to locate and rescue people are underway.

Facilities have been arranged at the hospitals nearby to provide necessary treatment facilities to the people being rescued.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Hyderabad, Jan 6: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday expressed solidarity with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, following violence in the campus and said the "cruel attack" was meant to "punish"the students as they "dared to stand up".

"In solidarity with the brave students of JNU. This cruel attack is meant to 'punish' JNU students because they dared to stand up. It's so bad that even Union Ministers are tweeting helplessly. Modi Sarkar must answer why cops aresiding with goons," the Hyderabad MP tweeted.

The AIMIM has also tweeted expressing solidarity with the "students of JNU". "AIMIM stands in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Who feels threatened by the voice of students?," the party said in a tweet.

Violence broke out at the JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

New Delhi, Jan 4: "Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic" is how India is referred to in the preamble of the Constitution. However, J Nandakumar, a key RSS leader and All India Convenor Prajna Pravah, a Sangh offshoot, wants India to reconsider the inclusion of the word "secular", claiming secularism is a "western, Semitic concept".

In an exclusive interview to news agency, Nandakumar said: "Secularism is a western, Semitic concept. It came into existence in the West. It was actually against Papal dominance."

He argued that India does not need a secular ethos as the nation has moved "way beyond secularism" since it believes in universal acceptance as against the western concept of tolerance.

The RSS functionary on Thursday released a book here named "Hindutva in the changing times". The book launch event was also attended by senior RSS functionary Krishna Gopal.

Nandakumar, who has attacked the Mamata Banerjee government in his book for alleged "Islamisation of West Bengal", told IANS: "We have to see whether we need to put up a board of being secular, or that whether we should prove this through our behaviour, actions and roles."

It is for society to take a call on this, rather than by any political class, on whether the preamble to the Indian Constitution should continue to have the word "secular" in it or not, he added.

In between signing his books and obliging wannabe Hindutva cadres with selfies, Nandakumar said that the very existence of the word "secular" in the preamble was not necessary and how the constitution founders too were against it.

"Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Ladi Krishnaswamy Aiyaar -- all debated against it and said it (secular) wasn't necessary to be included in the preamble. That time it was demanded, discussed and decided not to include it," he said.

Ambedkar's opinion was, however, disregarded when Indira Gandhi "bulldozed" the word "secular", in 1976, said the head of the Prajna Pravah, an umbrella body of several right-wing think-tanks

As Nandakumar prepared to return to his base in Kerala, where, he emphasises, the RSS has its work cut out in the "fight against the Kunnor model", he said that the inclusion of "secular" was done with the intent to damage the concept of Hindutva.

"It was to demolish, destroy the overarching principle of Hindutva that binds us together", he said.

Asked whether the Sangh would pressurise the BJP, which has 303 seats in the Lok Sabha, to omit "secular" from the Constitution preamble, Nandakumar smilingly refused to reply.

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